British architect David Chipperfield has been named as an ambassador for the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 in a press conference held at the Altes Museum in Berlin. Funded by the European Commission, the European Cultural Heritage Year will celebrate common cultural heritage in all its forms. 

In light of a heterogeneous European social structure and against the background of current political, social and economic change, the potential for identification, participation and development will be brought into focus. A programme of events across Europe in 2018 aims to raise awareness and education among younger generations.

From left to right: Hermann Parzinger, David Chipperfield, Kathrin Hahne (BKM), Helene Blum, Harald Haugaard, Janne Teller, Uwe Koch (DNK), Martina Münch. Image © Dirk Dehmel. 

''The highlighting of our shared European heritage comes at a significant moment in our history. In these uncertain times, particularly for us British, it is a moment to reflect on the common values and shared history that unites us. Europe is a fascinating collage of cultural connections and differences. Nowhere is this more clearly documented and recorded than in our cultural patrimony. Alongside the other arts which are easier to acknowledge and protect, architecture and our built environment are more fragile representations of our shared cultural history,'' said David Chipperfield.

''The future development of our cities and our society depends on an appreciation and understanding of the physical achievements of the past. The architecture of our cities is a physical record of our cultural and societal visions and a living document of the continuous sedimentation of the practical and the artistic, the monumental and the mundane,'' he added.

Top image: David Chipperfield courtesy of Artforum 

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