Die Bauakademie Karl Friedrich SchinkelBerlin, Germany1836

The position of education in Prussia

In the years 1806 till 1808 Napoleon occupied Berlin. Because of this occupation there came a strong feeling of national identity in the Prussian empire. Wilhelm von Humboldt, a political writer and influential statesman who founded the Berlin University in 1809, reformed the whole Prussian education system on the basis of the ideals of the 18th century Enlightment, as expressed in the writings of philosophers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, scientists as Johann Joachim Winckelmann and progressive educationists as Johann Friedrich Pestalozzi. Education from now on was the responsibility of the state and stood open for the public no matter from which class or background you were.

The influence of Schinkel

In 1810 Schinkel was installed as architect at the ministry of Public Works by Wilhelm von Humboldt. He started the carrier of 30 years where he would give expression the philosophical idealism and the architectural landscape of the Prussian state. He was a close friend and mentor of the crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm. The heir to the throne had a special interested in architecture and his ideal was to combine Greek, gothic and Teutonic elements in an architecture which could give expressing to a united state he called ‘Teutschland’.

Trip to England

Schinkel was also known for his sense for the picturesque. The scenic design of Schloss Charlottenhof in Postdam, is one of the examples. His trip to England was therefore mainly focused on the research of his the picturesque and classic building of English architects as Nash, Soane and Smirke. But Schinkel was not impressed by there works and was more fascinated by the architectural stamp which the industrial revolution left. He was intrigued by the way industrial buildings were realized and was determined to bring this way of constructing to Berlin, but he would apply an aesthetic and poetic layer which in his opinion was an intrinsic part of architecture.

The ideological motive of the school

Schinkel was highly influenced by reformations of Humboldt. The idea of an educational system which was free for everyone to enter came to expressing in the design of the Bauakademie. The building is positioned freely between the high architecture of the Friedrichswerder Church and the City Palace. The Bauakamie is an example of a middle class architecture which frees itself of hierarchies of feudal city planning by no longer being a part continues street facade. The spatial release is supposed to become associated with the pedagogic ideal, the political demand for freedom for the spirit and the capital.

Die Bauakademie

In 1799 the building academy was established to be the central school for all royal provinces of Prussia and its architects and structural engineers. This marked the start of the tradition of regulated professional training. The Bauakademie was relocated and constructed from 1832-1836, after the plans by the institutions most famous former student; Karls Friedrich Schinkel. The building was meant to house institutions such as the Oberbaudeputation, the Higher Council of Architecture, and the Königliche Technische Hochschule, the technical royal faculty, which will give birth in 1879 to the Technische Universität.

It was Prussia’s first worldly red brick building and was located on the site of the old storage facilities Alter Packhof on the western arm of the river Spree. The building was inspired by the English factory buildings of the early 19th century and, due to its particular construction and construction method (serial construction), was considered the first architecturally significant industrial building of Germany pointing the way for modern architecture. The multi-storey factory building type (e.g. the Hackensche Höfe in Berlin) emerged from this style.

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Groundfloor scale 1/200

Second floor scale 1/500Basement scale 1/500

First floor scale 1/200

storage shops

library

reading room

atelier

classroomclassroomclassroomclassroom

passage

depot

courtyard

shops

shops

entrance

to 2nd floorto depot

to 1st floor

offices

appartmentSchinkel

officeSchinkel

Die Bauakademie, Berlin, Germany Situation

heating boiler

Schinkel on architecture and arts

Schinkel broached the idea of expressing construction directly without stylistic filters, but shied away from fuctionalism on the grounds that is lacked ‘the historic and the poetic’. When dealing with the past, Schinkel was quite clear that the imitation of old form was insufficicient, that a ‘new element’should enter on the high level of the guiding architectural idea, and that there should be a profound tranformation. He thought that beyond the outer convections of historical styles it might be possible to discover a more elemental level of continuity, and to reinterpret these ‘essiential’ values in present-day terms.

‘If one could preserve the spriritual principle of Greek architecture, and bring it to terms with the conditions of our own epoc…then one could find the most genuine answer to our discussion’. At the same time he insisted that:’Each work of art, of whatever kind, must always contain a new element, and be a living addition to the world of art…’

Tradition was to inspire invention, but invention was also to keep tradition alive. The honoust beauty of construction in Greek and gotic architecture appealed to Schinkel. And he thought of it as his mission to combine both styles to a new profound architecture which would breath the historical values aswell the progress of invention.

Sketches of Schinkels trip to England

Die Bauakademie Karl Friedrich SchinkelBerlin, Germany1836 2

Construction, materialisation and architectural themes

The Bauakademie is a clear expression of Schinkels interest in Greek and gothic architecture aswell in industrial development.The building was structured by eight window axes, four storeys and two portals on the north side. The wall pillars connecting all storeys were interspersed with wide tripartite windows. The individual storeys were contrasted by cornices. Glazed tiles structure and quicken the wall area of the unrendered building, which is clad with the finest bricks. The image range on the terracotta relief plates inserted in the window parapets were, with exception of the portals, the same on all four sides of the building.This relief plates show the history of architecture. They are designed by Schinkel himself and erected with the assistance of the sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch. The relief plates on the entrance portals show the relation of architecture with art and constuction. Which is literal expression of Schinkels idea that architecture must educate the people.

‘Architecture must educate the public and let them rise by making them concious of there own identity’

Together with the neighbouring buildings (Friedrichswerder Church, City Palace, Cathedral, Old Museum, Armoury and Palace Bridge) the Bauakamie formed a free-standing, organ-like arranged ensemble.

Sketches in the design stage

Section scale 1/200 North facade 1/200

passageshops

shops storage

office appartment Schinkel

design studiolibrary

Roofterrace

Die Bauakademie Karl Friedrich SchinkelBerlin, Germany1836 3

public

Program

formal/ informal meetingplaces

U-Form

The basic principle of the infrastructure in the Bauakademie is the u-form around the courtyard. This is the form where the circulation is based on and where the installations run through.The grid used in the schemes is based on the construction of the Bauakademie, it was build in a stir grid of 5,5 by 5,5 meter in which were no load bearing walls. From this grid it was possible to simply color the building with program.The circulation with its exceptional wide hallways, as it used most of the time the complete 5,5 meters, could have been used as a more informal meeting space for students.The library and the drawing hall were marked as more informal research areas as they are important study areas with the possibility to go your own way.

semi-public (academy)academy

private living

publicacademy storage

shops

shops storage

privateProgram organisation public private

program / non program

program horizontal

Circulation

non program space

space with program

construction element

construction element

academy depot

formal space

shops storage

academy

informal workspace

shops

living

informal space

Horizontal circulation

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vertical circulation

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The u-form

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Circulation in section

1080 m2

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300 m2

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960 m2

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180 m2

1050 m2

shops theatre/auditorium

museum/exposition

cafe/restaurant

library/mediatheque

depot offices atelier parking outside living