During his visit to the Alexander Haus on Monday 14 August, project architect Julia Schenke and partner Martin Reichert presented the plans for a new seminar and guest house to the German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The Alexander Haus is symbolic of Germany's twentieth century history. Built in 1927 by the Jewish doctor Alfred Alexander, the property in Groß Glienicke near Potsdam served as a holiday residence for his family and friends who included famous creatives and intellectuals such as Albert Einstein. Following the family's emigration to the UK, it was occupied by the composer and NSDAP member Will Meisel and later became GDR state property. In 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected across the house's garden, cutting it off from the lake until 1989.
"Important, significant and absolutely worth supporting," was how the Chancellor summed up his impressions of Alexander Haus.
Today, the small restored wooden building serves as a place of encounter and exchange under the direction of the DialoguePerspectives association. To expand the educational program, David Chipperfield Architects Berlin plans a new seminar and guest house, which will be sensitively integrated into the site. Planned as a modular wooden structure, the new buildings will compliment and form a direct relationship with the historic Alexander Haus.
Photography: Marion Schoenenberger