PUBLIC BUILDINGS

Dear Readers,

It was a perfect start to spring in Milan: this year’s Salone del Mobile attracted more design enthusiasts than ever to the Lombard capital. In bright sunshine, we explored the exhibition halls in Rho and the Fuorisalone showrooms in Brera during the press preview days and met Kengo Kuma, Hadi Teherani, Philippe Starck, Tilla Goldberg, Sebastian Herkner, Stefan Diez, Steffen Kehrle and others. The culmination was the visit to the historical villas Bagatti Valsecchi and Borsani in nearby Varedo. They provided a fantastic setting for the 7th edition of the Alcova design fair and proved to be a real magnet for visitors. Our richly illustrated Salone follow-up report with our personal highlights starts on page 30. Prior to that, we had already made our project selection on the theme of Public Buildings, so you will find remarkably well-designed facilities for children in Baden-Baden, Egg and Zurich, schools in Cologne, Ludwigsburg, Baden and Weil am Rhein, (media) libraries in Waldshut, Mittweida, Lima and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges and churches in Neumarkt and Tenerife (from p. 104). A selection of (children’s) furniture for these types of projects starts on page 58. We delve deeper into the topic of children and culture in our “Change of Perspective” series: architect Annette Roeder has been successfully writing children’s books for years – including books about architecture. And in the series “Students design”, Marie Wettach presents her master’s design Kulturschopp at the PBSA in Düsseldorf. At the HFT in Stuttgart, Ukrainian and German students have jointly developed, exhibited and discussed designs for an unusual housing project in Kiev – a very successful and highly relevant initiative that will be continued. In his essay, Benjamin Reding almost succumbed to the temptation to continue his criticism (see AIT 5.2019) of the Berlin Rütli School by Schulz und Schulz Architekten. In the end, however, he decided to bring back memories of his own school days and a jacket-and-pullover teacher, taking us on an emotional journey through a Beatles LP – Strawberry Fields Forever! We hope you enjoy reading this issue and wish you a wonderful early summer!

Best wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect