Towers, Castles and Cottages
Helge Pitz: Recipes for the preservation of historical heritage
The life’s work of Berlin architect Helge Pitz is dedicated to the preservation of historical heritage. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, architects, art historians, experts on monument preservation and companions of Helge Pitz discussed with him the love of historical heritage and recipes for its preservation.
© ANCB
Date: Thursday, 22. September 2016
Introduction
The restoration of castles and other public monuments is not a routine task that can be confidently left to the owner and the building industry. This is equally true for the restoration of housing estates from earlier eras. Since the original construction documents are often missing and there is hardly any knowledge left about the construction methods from the time of construction, extensive preliminary investigations and planning are necessary. There was no time for this during the reconstruction phase of the Berlin housing estates that were badly damaged in the bombing war: Berlin scratch plaster instead of smooth plaster, matt, plastic-bonded paints instead of the brilliance of mineral paints, “modern” aluminium doors, windows without glazing bars and many other interventions have disfigured the estates – not only in Berlin.
The life’s work of Berlin architect Helge Pitz is dedicated to the preservation of historical heritage. Based on this experience, he has created extensive collections of concepts, tools and manuals for the restoration of architectural monuments, which continue to serve as a guide for the next generation of architects. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, architects, art historians, heritage conservation experts and companions of Helge Pitz discussed with him the love of historical heritage and recipes for its preservation.
Programme
Begrüßung
Dr. h.c. Kristin Feireiss, Direktorin, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin
Einführung
Hans-Jörg Duvigneau, Architekt und ehem. technischer Geschäftsführer der GSW, Berlin
Impulsvorträge
Dr. Christine Hoh-Slodczyk, Kunsthistorikerin, Berlin
Helge Pitz, Architekt, Berlin
Video © Reframe
Programme
Podiumdiskusssion
Prof. Berthold Burkhardt, burkhardt + schumacher Architekten, Braunschweig sowie Gutachter und Berater der Wüstenrot-Stiftung
Dr. Christine Hoh-Slodczyk, Kunsthistorikerin, Berlin
Prof. Hilde Léon, léonwohlhage Architekten, Berlin
Helge Pitz, Architekt, Berlin
Moderator: Dr. Jürgen Tietz, Journalist, Berlin
Video © Reframe
Background
In the 1960s, Helge Pitz experienced the qualities of Bruno Taut’s architecture very personally as a resident of the Zehlendorf forest settlement Onkel Toms Hütte – and at the same time recognised the sad state of the entire neighbourhood. During preparatory work for the restoration, he discovered the original colourfulness not only of his house, but of the entire district, and looked for ways of ‘preserving renewal’. In an office partnership with Winfried Brenne, the two had been working on maintenance concepts for Uncle Tom’s Hut since 1979, which formed the basis for corresponding manuals for the Hufeisensiedlung as well as for Siemensstadt and Weiße Stadt in Berlin and were presented in the exhibition “Siedlungen der Zwanziger Jahre – heute” (“Settlements of the Twenties – Today”) at the Bauhaus Archive in 1984.
In Berlin, Pitz’s other work included the conversion of Bellevue Palace into the permanent official residence of the Federal President and the modernisation of the Red City Hall in 1989. In Potsdam, it was the comprehensive repair of Erich Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower. Saving this famous building sculpture required intensive research into the unusual combination of building materials and their processing in the construction phase immediately after World War 1. With their methodology, Pitz and and art historian Christine Hoh-Slodczyk have carried out similar tasks in Kassel and Mannheim. But his unerring sense for good architecture and his thirst for research have also guided Helge Pitz in new building projects, such as the extension of the German Museum of Technology in Berlin, where he floats a former ‘sultana bomber’ above water, rail and road as a symbol of aviation.
Diese Veranstaltung wurde ermöglicht mit großzügiger Unterstützung durch:
Keim Farben
Wüstenrot Stiftung
Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung
