The winners of the AIV Schinkel Competition 2019: bridge2future have been announced. This year’s ideas competition focused on the design of the new Berlin Central State Library and the surrounding area. A total of 12 entries from 28 participants received an award.

The winners of the AIV Schinkel Competition 2019: bridge2future have been announced. This year’s ideas competition focused on the design of the new Berlin Central State Library and the surrounding area. A total of 12 entries from 28 participants received an award.

The Central State Library Berlin (ZLB) is to bring together its collections. To this end, the America Memorial Library will be extended. This conversion will also have an impact on the surrounding neighborhoods – and not just in terms of traffic. The participants in the 2019 AIV Schinkel Competition have been working on the creation of this knowledge quarter.

From an architectural point of view, the project poses particularly great challenges in terms of the functional requirements of a library. The urban planners, on the other hand, were confronted with a very large area whose impact on traffic and the neighboring districts could not be underestimated. The aim of the competition was to generate designs for a dense, urban district. On the one hand, these were to take up the historical heritage of the quarter and, on the other, meet all the requirements of a 21st century city.

The AIV Schinkel competition is an ideas and funding competition that challenges the creativity of its participants. It is intended to spark interest in the respective area and raise awareness of it. It also opens up a dialog between the public, experts, the administration and politicians. Through the competition, the public in particular should establish a relationship with the planning area and engage with the design of public spaces. The competition, which has been held since 1855, has often been able to contribute ideas to current planning projects. It is organized on a voluntary basis by the Architekten- und Ingenieur-Verein zu Berlin.

Compared to last year, the competition saw a significant increase in the number of entries: Around 62 more designs were submitted than in 2018, with entries coming from a total of 357 participants from seven countries. 115 designs were concerned with the architectural design of the library, while 31 were related to the urban planning aspects of the site.

Very high quality of entries

Twelve of the entries were awarded a total of 26,700 euros. The jury deliberately also awarded prizes to entries that did not take into account all the needs of the operators and users of the ZLB or the site. However, these works were convincing due to their outstanding qualities on other levels. The competition organizers are pleased that the competition’s aim of promoting interdisciplinary collaboration was fully achieved. The jury also emphasized the exceptionally high standard of the entries.

The winning entries will be exhibited in the Quergalerie at Berlin University of the Arts until March 30, 2019.

The award winners

Knowledge makes a city
Urban development SCHINKEL PRIZE for “Urban Cluster”
Tim Hecker, Jan Phillipp Heidenreich, Manuel Kramm, Timon Nüsken, University of Wuppertal

Urban planning/architecture/structural engineering
SPECIAL PRIZE, donated by the Association of Consulting Engineers Berlin-Brandenburg regional group for “Vitamin Kreuzberg”
Simon Madlener, Pit Kafemann, Luise von Zimmermann, Philine von Zimmermann, UDK Berlin and TU Berlin

Metro X Polis
Landscape architecture
SCHINKEL PRIZE for “Connext-X-Berg”
Markus Storch, TU Dresden

Landscape architecture
Special prize, donated by the Lenné-Akademie für Gartenbau u. Gartenkultur e.V. for “On the top”
Ulrike Börst, TU Dresden

Open Common
Architecture
SCHINKEL PRIZE and Hans Joachim Pysall Travel Grant for “Library of the Future”
David Kerrom, Luca Mathias Hupfer, HTWK Leipzig

Architecture
1st DIESING PRIZE, special prize, donated by Heinz Diesing via the Karl Friedrich Schinkel Foundation of the AIV zu Berlin for “Neue Kreuzberger Wiese”
Aleksandra Czaj, Kinga Krawczyk, BTU Cottbus

Architecture
2nd DIESING PRIZE, special prize, donated by Heinz Diesing via the Karl Friedrich Schinkel Foundation of the AIV zu Berlin for “Kulturscheibe Berlin”
Leonard Kaupp, Lina Thürer, Mathias Wolf,TU Berlin

Architecture / Urban Design
3rd DIESING PRIZE, special prize, donated by Heinz Diesing via the Karl Friedrich Schinkel Foundation of the AIV zu Berlin for “A new ZLB for Berlin”
Johannes Hertell, Leibniz University Hanover

Architecture
SPECIAL PRIZE, donated by the Verband Restaurator im Handwerk e.V.
Philipp Rothbächer, Jonas Schergun, TU Munich

Urban Shortcut
Structural Engineering
SCHINKELPREIS for “Abzweiger”
Kevin Gasper, Rauk Stubbe, Christian Tewes, Hannes Voß, TU Berlin and HCU Hamburg

Structural Engineering
SPECIAL PRIZE, donated by the Baukammer Berlin for “W-Berg Welle”
Maximilian Gedamke, Inga Hogrefe, Katharina Ropers, HS Wismar

An American friend
Liberal Arts
SPECIAL PRIZE, donated by the Hans and Charlotte Krull Foundation for “Hyperlink”
Cornelia Buchheim, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, Halle

Our last two Baumeister Academy winners are back in their home cities. The new interns are therefore about to move: Ayman is moving to Rotterdam for six months and Theresa is going to Vienna for six months. The chance to win an internship was only given to those applicants who submitted an impromptu design: a mobile living and sleeping space for homeless people. This week we introduce you to Ayman, Theresa and their designs.

Our last two Baumeister Academy winners are back in their home cities. The new interns are therefore about to move: Ayman is moving to Rotterdam for six months and Theresa is going to Vienna for six months. The chance to win an internship was only given to those applicants who submitted an impromptu design: a mobile living and sleeping space for homeless people. This week we introduce you to Ayman, Theresa and their designs.

Theresa moved from the small town of Kulmbach to Frankfurt am Main to study architecture. She moved to Regensburg for her Master’s degree, and from there to Querkraft Architekten in Vienna.

Impromptu design: Visibubble

Theresa applied with her ‘Visibubble’ project, which makes people who would otherwise be lost in the cityscape visible. Her design provides homeless people with a mobile dwelling that can be carried on the back. The backpack contains a pneumatic construction that is inflated by a battery-powered compressor. When a resident sits in their bubble by torchlight, the translucent construction simultaneously illuminates the surroundings. This brings homeless people back into the spotlight of society and makes the existing problem visible.

Ayman, who was born in Lebanon, moved from Beirut to Berlin to study architecture. He began his Master’s degree at RWTH Aachen University a year ago. He won first prize in the competition “The university, the future and you!” with his entry, in which he attempts to solve the housing shortage for students in Berlin with new housing concepts. He is completing his Baumeister Academy internship in Rotterdam at MVRDV.

Impromptu design: Innova(c)tive Space for Homeless

For his design, Ayman discovered hidden spaces in Berlin where small houses can be built. With a height of 120 centimetres, homeless people can retreat there. To build the houses, Ayman makes use of the many pieces of furniture and materials lying around on Berlin’s streets. The future residents help to choose the location and build the mini-houses. By recycling materials, the city stays clean and homeless people have a place to retreat to in the city.

We wish our two winners every success, lots of exciting impressions and a great start in Vienna and Rotterdam.

Are you also interested in an internship in Rotterdam, Leipzig or Vienna? The application round for 2019 starts at the end of September. You can find more information here.