Maggie’s Farm was a biotope created amongst the ruins of the historic Tacheles arcade and within the bomb crater adjacent. Local people brought structured natural life back to empty spaces of the city. Through atmospheric architectural representation, the lightwell element within the academy houses is a memorial to the loss of this natural landscape that was demolished and excavated in preparation for the re-densification of the block. Within the deep plan, the lightwell offers a reflection back to the natural world, and the spectacle of light.
With inspiration from Zumthor’s Bruder Klaus Chapel, the lightwells funnel natural light into the centre of the academy studio spaces. The shuttering shall use natural remains removed from empty sites in Berlin that are now being built upon again. After being burnt away, the surface quality left shall serve as a reminder to what has been living in the empty spaces of berlin during it’s process of restoration and re-design.
‘‘I think it is more about creating a feeling for the things that are absent than about creating a feeling of presence for things lost. So I try to create a feeling for things that are no longer here or for the lost context of things that are still here.”
