Location: Manhattan, New York

Client: German Cultural Center

Project Team: ROMINES Architecture, Architect | Barkow Leibinger, Interior Architect | Knippers Helbig, Structural Engineer and Facade Consultant | Mary Kay Judy Architectural & Cultural Heritage Concervation | Dagher Engineering. MEP engineer | Philip Habib & Associates, Civil Engineer | Slocum Construction Consulting, Cost Estimator | William Vitacco Associates, Code & Zoning consultant | Marrion Fire & Risk Consulting, Fire Protection Engineer | RA Engineering, Geotechnical Engineer

Imagining a vital, dynamic and contemporary German Cultural Center, we propose the following design for 1014 5th Avenue:

Our approach to the existing historical building has been to adopt and adapt. No “Critical Reconstruction” (as applied in post-wall Berlin) which demanded a dutiful and sentimental restoration of a historic building or urbanism; rather, we aim to restore this historical building while projecting it architecturally to the future for new possibilities. From front to back and from below to above, one moves through the spaces toward a re-imagined rear, to a terraced-landscape or to loft-like upper levels: the visitor’s path follows the trajectory of history and encourages in her a consideration of herself as a participant in the negotiation of the forces of history. The existing building design is organized as a series of rooms that open into one another; our design retains this condition while enhancing the original paradigm with modern, code-compliant interventions. Our intent is to restore the building through upgrades (ADA, egress codes, etc.) – disturbing as little as possible in the process.