Interview with Daniel Libeskind*

Christopher Langer,Ulrike Steglich

Why did you decide to create the design for this exhibition in Berlin? What was your motive?

Very simple. I was asked to do it and it is a very important topic, Moscow-Berlin, a topic that I have been affected by, since part of my family's fatality had to do with the Holocaust and part with the Gulag Archipelego. It's not just the decoration for an exhibition.

And personal motives?

Yes, the motive is certainly that such a relationship needs to be expressed in a certain way through exhibition design and that is why I made my suggestions to the Berlinische Galerie to alter the original concept. The original idea was that the center of the exhibit would be the Hitler and Stalin paintings: that was a very controversial and important element of the exhibit. But I thought that that should not really be centered and what should really be central to the understanding of the public was to be the exiles, the exile of Berliners in Moscow and the Russians in Berlin. If you ask for a motive, it is to express what I think is important about that relationship in Berlin and Moscow, for those artists and cultural figures who never had a chance in the future.

Interview with Bjarke Ingels

Bjarke Ingels is the founder of Copenhagen-based architectural group BIG. Bjarke’s approach to Architectural design is the experimentation of space, to create buildings that provide solutions to current problems. His “Yes is More” manifesto, is a comic book he created to express the importance of “thinking big”, treating problems as challenges and finding sources of genuine inspiration.

The Architecture created by Bjarke Ingels emerges from his careful analysis of how life constantly evolves and changes. His Architecture is a combination of exploring living, leisure and working, which collectively test the balance of programmatic mixtures on the triple bottom line. His work focuses on smaller details that exist within the “big picture”.

As an Architect with a mission to prove that its okay to wear t-shirts and sneakers and that you don’t have to be over 50 to be recognised; he is a huge inspiration.

Which of your projects has been the most rewarding and why?

It is very nice to see your efforts get realized. Once you interact with reality and the full spectrum of forces in the world including the turmoil of political, economical, technical, social, ecological and legal influences then they begin to let loose on a project and start to evolve it in unprecedented directions. The true creative moment is when a big idea interacts with these uncontrollable but at times navigable forces of society.

I like the idea of architectural evolution in a Darwinian sense; that the forms and shapes (designs if you like) of the biosphere have evolved through millennia-long selection processes – various lifeforms (design attempts) have encountered the forces of the nature (society) and have been edited to become what they are today. So for me the projects that have made it to their final stage – where they start to inhabit our planet and accommodate our lives are by far the most rewarding. Unfortunately way too many of our projects die at infant stages or prenatally.

'An Obsessive Compulsion towards the Spectacular'

Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas talks about new trends in architecture and urban development, the end of the European city, the rise of Dubai, Russia and China, the obsession with XXXL and the difference between the people who design buildings for a living and "star architects."

Mr.Koolhaas, you are designing buildings in Europe, the United States, the Persian Gulf and China. From which part of the world do you expect to see the strongest impulses for architecture and urban development emerging in the future?

We have to draw some distinctions here. As far as the experience of building goes, the strongest impulse will undoubtedly come from China and the Middle East, and probably from India, as well. Things get more complex when it comes to thinking. The intellectual force of the West is still dominant, but other cultures are getting stronger. I expect that we will develop a new way of thinking in architecture and urban planning, and that less will be based on our models. There are many young, good architects in China. The unanswered question is whether our cooperation, this internationalization, will result in a common language of architecture, whether we will speak two different languages or whether there will be a mixture of the two.

Ole Scheeren-OMA

       

Ole Scheeren, born in 1971 in Karlsruhe, Germany, Ole Scheeren is an internationally acclaimed architect and partner along with Rem Koolhaas in the firm of Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA).

Scheeren is director of OMA Rotterdam and OMA Beijing and in charge of the firm's work across Asia. As partner-incharge of OMA's largest project to date, he led design and construction of the China Central Television Station (CCTV) and the Television Cultural Center (TVCC) in Beijing.

A Question of Position

The symposium, 16th International Design Forum Ulm (1) took place at the Hochhschule für Gestaltung Ulm in Ulm, Germany, 19-21 September 2003.Among many international lecturers was keynote speaker Ole Scheeren.

Ole Scheeren is a partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Since 1999 he has been leading the office as director and is in charge of a number of OMA’s large projects – among others the China Central Television Station (CCTV) in Beijing, China; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, USA; as well as the new concept for the Italian fashion company Prada with stores in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

EAAE News Sheet Editor Anne Elisabeth Toft interviewed Ole Scheeren in Ulm, Germany, on 20 September 2003.

Today you were a keynote speaker at the 16th International Design Forum Ulm. The heading of this year’s conference is: Positioning Design and Architecture, FromTraining and Study to a Career?

The overall aim of the conference is to examine and discuss the present situation for architects and designers, those still in training and those already practising.

What was the subject of your lecture entitled Architecture – Adjust During Development, Develop During Adjustment?

Instead of speaking about the current situation at universities I was speaking more generally about the making and thinking of architecture, but I also attempted to relate technical, organisational and economical aspects of this process to a more political context. In some ways I think that the entire debate about education and the system in itself –be it privatisation of universities, be it different strategies in teaching, etc. – is maybe both too detailed and too remote at the same time, and can only lead to partial answers. To me, the fundamental question is really one of a position, and in the end, this means about a somewhat political position. There can only be some kind of awareness and sensibility in this particular sense that can lead the discussion and maybe evoke change or progress. And I think this is the real issue at stake.