Perfectly in tune with my recent move from Rotterdam to Berlin* I can recommend the Bauhaus exhibition in the Martin Gropius Bau (where else?) in Berlin. The exhibition – the largest on Bauhaus in history – will be open until 4th of October 2009, and focuses on the period 1919 to 1933. It is refreshing and and overwhelming to see this wealth of utopian ideas, especially now.

From the press release:

“Wednesday, the 21 July, the exhibition ‘Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model’ opened in Berlin’s Martin Gropius Bau. On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Bauhaus and 20 years after the fall of the Berlin wall, the leading Bauhaus research institutions and museums in Germany – the Bauhaus Archive Berlin, the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and the Klassik Stiftung Weimar – are for the first time jointly presenting an exhibition. With about 1,000 objects it will be the largest Bauhaus exhibition ever. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, cooperating partner in the project, sent 25 objects to Berlin and will present its own exhibition ‘bauhaus 1919 – 1933. Workshops for Modernity’ beginning on 8 November in New York.

Supporting Programme for the Exhibition

A diverse programme of events will be offered to accompany ‘Bauhaus. A Conceptual Model’. It includes a five-day international conference ‘bauhaus global’ (21 – 26 September 2009) supported by the Stiftung Lotto/ Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin, as well as a lecture series, cinema nights, workshops, architecture tours and book presentations (see overview of supporting events). Public tours are offered on Saturdays and Sundays at 12:00 and 2:00 pm.

The exhibition is supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. The primary supporters are HOCHTIEF and the Sparkassen-Kulturfond des Deutschen Sparkassen- und Giroverbands. The Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin and the ART MENTOR FOUNDATION LUCERNE are sponsors of the exhibition. Media partners are the Radio Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb), the newspapers DIE WELT, and the Berliner Morgenpost, and the Wall AG. The installation in the Lichthof was generously supported by Eternit AG and Thonet GmbH.”

*we still have our man Martin in Rotterdam, though!

Apart from the burning building series, we observe a new trend on dysturb, architecture practices closing down. After the cuts at OMA and EEA’s bancruptcy, we received the link to the video below. It is filmed at Foster+Partners Berlin office on the day the announcement has been made to the team (Fri 13th), 3 days after it was announced to the press. Unfortunately, some of our friends have been working there. More a about the shutdown at bdonline.

My dear friend Alex Thomass of 5elf recently sent me images of his latest project, the smallest permanent pneumatic roof of the world.

‘5elf Berlin found an economic solution to roof a penthouse terrace with a pneumatical construction.The highly light-transmisive ETFE foil enables a weather protection without darkening the area which is closed on three sides.Thus the view to the sky is free and the roof with its easiness goes completely in the background.

All required technical cables are completely integrated into the statically optimized steel construction and are not visible.To save energy costs and to minimize noise of the air supply a medical membrane pump has been applied.’

I find it a pretty amazing project. The frame is almost non-existent, which makes it basically a valve floating in the air.

Check the 5elf website for a little animation of the inflation and additional text and images. You can find the project under ‘housing’ and the cushion-logo. (Always so impossible to link to these fancy flash-sites ;-)