Danish architecture practice Dorte Mandrup will open a new exhibition, exploring a symbiotic relationship between architecture and context at Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin, Germany. 

Titled PLACE, the exhibition will present the strong interrelation between place and architecture through five site-specific installations. The exhibition will give insight into Dorte Mandrup’s work and explore the strong bond between place and architecture so evident in the studio’s body of work.

The exhibition will open to the public on 9 July and will be on view until 17 August 2022 at Berlin's Aedes Architecture Forum.

The exhibition reveals the contextual potentials tied to finding sustainable solutions for the future and highlights that buildings never emerge in isolation.

Ilulissat Icefjord Centre, Greenland. Image © Adam Mørk

While similar in their function as museums and visitor centres they are fundamentally different from each other in concept, materiality, form, and texture, as well as in architectural expression. But still, they share the same vision, aspirations, and an ambition to give formal responses to the many challenges facing the world today. 

In addition to large-scale models illustrating the interplay between place and architecture from the marshes of the Wadden Sea, to the breathtaking vast scale of the Greenlandic landscape and the difficult memories of war, flight or expulsion imprinted in the ruins ofthe Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin, a Wunderkammer displays an extensive collection of artefacts, materials, images, fragments, models and sketches that invite visitors to dive into the unique narratives that have informed the architecture. 

The exhibition focuses on the museum The Whale on the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway, the Exile Museum in Berlin, Germany, the Wadden Sea Centre near Esbjerg, Denmark, the Trilateral World Heritage Wadden Sea Partnership Centre in Wilhelmhaven, Germany, and Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord Centre.

Dorte Mandrup, Founder and Creative Director. Image © Tuala Hjarnø

"Individually the projects might not seem directly connected. But together they express the contextual abundance that derives from allowing the place to inform the architecture – a richness in materiality, form, and function," said Dorte Mandrup, Founder and Creative Director.

"In a time where we as humans have become a profound force of nature, it is increasingly important that architecture conveys something contextually unique and enhances the understanding and experience of each place." 

"Not only when it comes to sensitive landscapes, but also the social, cultural, or economic framework," Mandrup added.

PLACE invites visitors to explore the distinctive narrative of each place through two parts. In the Wunderkammer visitors step into a world of records, materials, artifacts, and sketches to unearth some of the stories and elements that have inspired the works of Dorte Mandrup. 

The Wunderkammer invites visitors to touch, discover, and connect with each place though this rich collection of fragments. 

From the creative chaos of the Wunderkammer, you step into the main exhibition, where five site-specific models illustrate the interplay between the characters of the places and the buildings that emerge from them. Each model is an artistic expression of the important connection between place and architecture.

PLACE is a traveling exhibition, after exhibited at Aedes Forum, it will move to Le Bicolore – Maison du Danemark in Paris between 8 September – 9 November 2022. 

Dorte Mandrup won an international competition to design the new Exilmuseum in Berlin, Germany. Image © MIR

Exile Museum, Berlin

Expected to open in Berlin in 2025, the Exile Museum highlights the ruins of Anhalter Bahnhoffrom where countless people were forced to flee during World War II. 

The new building will tell the stories of those driven into exile then, while at the same time shedding light on the millions of people displaced from their homes today. It highlights and embraces the remaining architecturalfragment and creates a dialogue between past and present. 

The walk from the ruin of Anhalter Bahnhof into the museum resembles the one people would have taken to move through theportico into the entrance building and further out to the tracks – leading the visitor the same way as those who left for the unknown between 1933 and 1945. In the exhibition, visitors will get a unique experience of how the Exile Museum addresses this difficult history.

Wadden Sea Centre, Denmark. Image © Adam Mørk

Wadden Sea Centre, Denmark

The Wadden Sea Centre, opened in 2017, emerges from a landscape characterised by endless horizontal lines, secluded farmhouses with thatched roofs, and a relentless western wind. 

A sculptural adaptation of the volatile reeds anchors and yet simultaneously distinguishes the building in the distinctive landscape. As the gateway to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it conveys the history of one of the world's most unique and significant natural areas.

Trilateral Wadden Sea World Heritage Partnership Centre, Germany. Image © MIR

Trilateral Wadden Sea World Heritage Partnership Centre, Germany

In Wilhelmshaven on the north-western coast of Germany, a single, unmovable bunker is one of the few remains of the area’s naval military history. Appearing as a giant rock on the seabed it creates a natural anchoring point in the flat terrain and a perfect foundation for a new purpose of preserving and saving the valuable surrounding ecosystem. 

At night it becomes a shimmering and open lighthouse and provides views to the historical remains during the day. The centre is expected to be completed in 2025 and will house the offices of the joint Danish, German and Dutch Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS) and of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Authority (Nationalparkverwaltung Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer, NLPV) that both work to protect the Wadden Sea area.

Ilulissat Icefjord Centre, Greenland. Image © Adam Mørk

Ilulissat Icefjord Centre, Greenland

Like an outstretched wing gently touching the bedrock, the Icefjord Centre, completed in 2021, blends effortlessly into the vast terrain and offers a unique vantage point from which to experience the astonishing Icefjord and understand the dramatic consequences of climate change on this remarkable landscape. 

Designed as a year-round visitor centre and meeting place for local residents, companies, politicians, climate researchers and tourists, the centre houses exhibitions, a film theatre, a café and a shop as well as research and educational facilities. It tells the story of ice, of humankind and evolution on both a local and global scale. 

The rooftop is a public space – a kind of gateway between the town of Ilulissat and the wilderness beyond. The aerodynamic shape of the building prevents the build-up of snow, enabling the wind to swipe snow away from the facade.

The Whale, Norway. Image © MIR

The Whale, Norway

Frequently visited by migrating whales, Andenes is one of the best places in the world to experience these fabled creatures up close and The Whale creates the setting for a unique meeting between whale and human, nature, and culture. 

Inspired by the fact that the terrain above is a continuation of the landscape beneath, the Whale rises like a soft hill with a cavity underneath – almost as if a giant has made and incision into the crust of the earth and lifted it up. The curved roof forms a new public space. 

The museum is expected to open in 2025.

Danish architecture studio Dorte Mandrup was founded by architect Dorte Mandrup in 1999. The Copenhagen-based studio is internationally recognised for creating architecture in synergy with the context that enhances the awareness and experience of the place. 

The studio's design philosophy merges an artistic, humanistic, and scientific approach to create designs that are pushing the boundaries of form and materiality.

Exhibition periods

9 July – 17 August 2022, Aedes Architecture Forum, Berlin

8 September – 9 November 2022, Le Bicolore - Maison du Danemark, Paris

Speaking at the opening

Dr. h.c. Kristin Feireiss Aedes, Berlin

H.E. Susanne Hyldelund Ambassador of Denmark to Germany

Dorte Mandrup Founder and Creative Director, Dorte Mandrup, Copenhagen

Top image: Ilulissat Icefjord Centre, Greenland. Image © Adam Mørk.

> via Aedes Architecture Forum