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BDA Prize for the Refurbishment of the Neue Nationalgalerie

25.01.2022
Neue Nationalgalerie

The Neue Nationalgalerie’s extensive renovation has won the BDA (Association of German Architects) Prize Berlin.

An interdisciplinary panel of judges praised the refurbishment project and described it as having been carried out “with skilful precision and impressive subtlety”. According to the judges, the renovation shows that “it is possible to modernise listed buildings to bring them up to the latest energy standards and make them accessible, without compromising their other architectural qualities”. They also commended the ability of the architects to “honour the work of the previous generation by integrating contemporary design elements through an intelligent use of technology, whilst at the same time remaining discreet and modest in the execution”.

The building, designed by Mies van der Rohe and located at Berlin’s Kulturforum, is regarded as one of the most outstanding buildings of Western Modernism. The extensive renovation and refurbishment work took place between 2016 and 2021, under the supervision of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR). The building has been open to visitors again since August 2021, and is currently hosting an exhibition on Alexander Calder and presenting major Modernist works from the Nationalgalerie’s collection.

The award ceremony will take place on 3 May 2022. The BDA Prize Berlin is awarded every three years to particularly innovative projects. In 2009, the reconstruction of the Neues Museum on the Museumsinsel Berlin, also overseen by David Chipperfield Architects, received this prize.