Burrow

The extension of Karl-Marx-Allee between Strausberger Platz and Alexanderplatz marked the turning point towards modernism in the GDR. Industrially manufactured „socialist housing“ between Mollstrasse and Holzmarktstrasse, was combined with a completely new architecture. Today, undeveloped spaces between Schillingstrasse and Alexanderplatz are evident. Six additional pavilions were initially planned by the original city plan of the 1950s, but they were never built. Under the condition of respectful treatment of the existing surroundings, the still open urban spaces are to be incorporated with pavilion buildings in a modern, contemporary architecture. The exhibition presents the pavilion history from the original planning to today's workshop-inspired public procurement process – including the designs for the six new pavilions. In the same way, the workshop-inspired process brings a past idea into the present in a contemporary way, the exhibition Re: Pavilion presents answers to an urban plan from the 1950’s.

For the graphic guidelines a systematic concept that takes up design elements of socialism has been developed. The modular system creates an appearance that provides the ability to dynamically react to the contents of the various media. Formally, the graphic design uses the title „Re: Pavilion“ and takes up the question-answer principle. The familiar form of a modern (email) communication flow, divides the chronicle between the recipient and sender (or answer and reply) on different design layers. The color concept is characterized by pluralism, the idea behind the concept was not be subjected to one single color. Hence, the representation of the restrained pastel tones in conjunction with the violet luminous spot color, invites visitors to question the relationships of the colors within themselves. By choosing the color combination accordingly – a contemporary view into the past – a response to the much used pastel tones during socialism, with a current leap into a diverse color spectrum has been undertaken. Additionally a reinterpreted version by Reto Moser and Tobias Rechtsteiner of the historical typeface design by Anatoliy Vasilyevich Shchukin from 1940-1956 has been used to transport information throughout the visuals.