David Chipperfield Architects: James-Simon-Galerie Berlin - Softcover

The James Simon Gallery, the new entrance building between the Kupfergraben and the Neues Museum, marks the architectural conclusion of the Museuminsel ensemble in Berlin after 180 years. Together with the Archaeological Promenade, it forms the centrepiece of the master plan developed in 1999, which has since served as the starting point for all further planning on Museumsinsel.

This book, published by David Chipperfield Architects on the occasion of the opening, is dedicated to the building and its cultural contexts. Photographs by Thomas Struth present the completed building, both within its urban context as well as in intimate close-ups. Texts by prominent architects, historians and sociologists complement the artistic photographic documentation.

Table of Contents

Introduction, David Chipperfield · In search of a different modernity: Designing on Museum Island, Alexander Schwarz · A Gateway to Museum Island, Rafael Moneo · Greek analogies: On the historical semantics of the James-Simon-Galerie, Adrian von Buttlar · James Simon, Merchant – Patron – Philanthropist, Olaf Matthes · Reinventing civil society: Poetry and prose on Museum Island from Schinkel to Chipperfield, Peter-Klaus Schuster · Longing for yesterday: Remarks by Regula Lüscher at the Akademie der Künste, with an introduction by Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper · A slow becoming: The Kupfergraben colonnade, Hans Witschurke · Not like that, Mr Chipperfield!, Heinrich Wefing · The James-Simon-Galerie, the Pergamon Museum and the propylaea: A new gateway to the Acropolis of Athens on the Spree, Martin Maischberger and Andreas Scholl · Conversation between Richard Sennett and David Chipperfiel