David Chipperfield sets the scene for the Neue Nationalgalerie's upcoming renovation with a new Berlin exhibition

Sticks and Stones' has opened at Belin's Neue Nationalgalerie in advance of the gallery's impending renovation works headed by Chipperfield.

(Image credit: David von Becker)

By Ellie Stathaki

last updated 31 August 2022

In advance of the impending renovation of the famous Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the new 'David Chipperfield: Sticks and Stones' exhibition opens today at the iconic venue - almost fifty years after its completion.

Originally designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (notably the celebrated architect's last major construction), the gallery has been a landmark of Modernism since its opening in 1968. Its steel roof, touching lightly upon a series of eight columns, seemingly suspended in mid-air, defines its pared down aesthetic - a key element of its creator's oeuvre. It also allows for an impressive column-free interior of 2,500 sq m.

The soon-to-start major renovation works, headed by David Chipperfield - also behind famous museum projects such as the Neues Museum, in Berlin's museum island, and the Saint Louis Art Museum - are due to start on site in early 2015.

Until then and for the next three months, Chipperfield will 'transform the universal space of the upper glass hall into a hall of columns consisting of 144 tree trunks'. The installation stems from a clever wordplay from the well-known English children's rhyme and refers to the 'sticks and stones' of architecture, and it unites in a single, minimal gesture, architecture and nature. '[It also] serves,' explain the architect's practice, 'as a metaphor for a temporary construction site.'

A 200 sq m meadow at the centre of this 'forest' completes the spatial experience. This floor element will act as the stage for several, both architectural and interdisciplinary shows taking place throughout the display's duration.

Chipperfield has transformed the upper glass hall into a forest of 144 tree trunks.

Interior of Sticks and Stones’ exhibition — The 3 month-long installation's title - 'Sticks and Stones' - stems from the well-known English children's rhyme and refers to the 'sticks and stones' of architecture.

Sticks and Stones interior of 2,500 sq m — 'Sticks and Stones' unites architecture and nature, while also functioning 'as a metaphor for a temporary construction site', explain the architect's practice.

Famously designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe - notably the celebrated architect's last major construction - the gallery has been a landmark of Modernism since its opening in 1968. This image shows the gallery's famous floating roof being installed on 5 April 1967.

Exterior view of Sticks and Stones — The major renovation works are due to start on site in early 2015.

ADDRESS

Neue Nationalgalerie
Potsdamer Str. 50
10178 Berlin
Germany

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David Chipperfield Mies van der Rohe

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).