Armin Linke’s night photography reveals the vacancy of the Bauakademie as a trace of Schinkel in Berlin’s urban fabric. The rudimentary replica of the corner construction raises questions about the future use and form of this centrally located site. Despite current majority support in Parliament for a reconstruction of the historical envelope—analogous to the recently completed Humboldt Forum—there are clearly more differentiated ideas among architects and urban society in Berlin about the future of the Bauakademie building. There is strong resistance to the appropriation of this important institution and building task by representational politics, that actually threaten to obscure more historical traces than they are supposed to make visible with the motto “As much Schinkel as possible”. At this important moment, Bauakademie Berlin offers conceptual perspectives for a contemporary Bauakademie in the form of texts, architectural drawings, and artist’s photographs.

With texts by Sandra Bartoli, Stefanie Endlich, Philipp Oswalt, Tanja Scheffler, Dubravka Sekulić, Axel Sowa, Stephan Trüby, and Andreas Zeese. Photographs by Armin Linke and Gili Merin