Meinhard von Gerkahn turned 80 in 2015, and his firm gmp, one of the largest and most famous modern German bureaus, is fifty. All these years, von Gerkan and Volkvin Marg have been at the head of the workshop, who began to work together even before 1965, while still studying at the Braunschweig Institute.
For this double round date, von Gerkan commissioned himself the design of the Architectural Pavilion, intended to present and popularize architecture. The streamlined, ceramic-paneled building sits on a slope above the Elbe: between the gmp office up the hill and the port-museum of Evelgönne below, by the water. The southern facade of the pavilion, facing the river and the harbor, received panoramic windows and terraces.
Anniversary exhibition “Lines of thought. Meinhard von Gerkahn: 50 Years of Architecture in Drawings and Sketches includes key works from the architect's extensive graphic heritage. From an archive of 3000 pages, 125 drawings were selected for it, made during the design of the most indicative and / or key objects for the development of gmp objects (39 in total) - for example, Berlin Tegel airport, from which the history of the bureau began, or the new railway station German capital.
Von Gerkahn also wanted to draw attention to the importance of this aspect of the architect's work with an exposition of hand-drawn drawings. Drawings on paper have always been an essential part of the creative process for him, and he is concerned that nowadays, when designing, they often do without them at all, using exclusively digital means.
The exhibition occupied all three levels of the pavilion, but they can also be used for different functions - thanks to separate staircases to the second and basement floors. In the basement, one hall will be reserved for the permanent exhibition of models of gmp buildings, and on the upper tier there are premises for work or guests.
