In a letter published in The Architects’ Journal, David Chipperfield has defended the practice's plans for the renovation of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, which some critics have argued 'glorifies' the Nazi architecture. Questioning the need to hide the building, the scheme proposes removing the line of trees and opening the building up to the city. ‘The building that houses [the Haus der Kunst] must now assume new responsibilities beyond those inherited from its dark history, not by hiding its 'guilt' but by living with it, overcoming it, subverting it and leading it into an alternative future.’
In response The Architects’ Journal's editor-in-chief Christine Murray has written an opinion piece in which she calls the proposals ‘a brave leap in reclaiming this building for the city’.