HDK Podium with Koolhaas, de Meuron and Mark Wigley, photo: Peter Scheller
Munich´s Haus der Kunst is turning 70. After being inaugurated by no other than Adolf Hitler in 1937 this building is more than its neoclassical architectural expression of fascist ideology. What makes this building, designed by Ludwig Troost, so intriguing is that its steel frame construction actually brings it closer to American 20th century hotels and banks and the concept of fake fassade than to the solidity of its appearance. The current director Chris Dercons` genuine approach of `critically dismantling` the post war veiling of the buildings` symmetry and scale in order to enable a confrontation rather than a diminutive of its original architectural state is also profiting from this almost exculpatory secret.