Historical layers, material traces and nature

Kantstraße is the jewel of West Berlin's Pan-Asian cuisine, a popular address for design boutiques and a major axis in the city's history. The lively boulevard, more than two and a half kilometres long, is a haven of peace for various nationalities, lined with buildings from different eras. The building that stands today at number 79 is a prime example of urban development and sophisticated architectural transformation, highlighting a sensitive attachment to history and its material and cultural substance. The criminal court and a prison annex were built in 1896 according to plans by architects Adolf Bürckner and Eduard Fürstenau. The wing facing the street housed a lay judges' court and, more recently, the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf land registry. The rear building also shaped the history of the German penal system for decades; during the Second World War, it served as a prison for female members of the Resistance. After the prison closed in 1985, the building was converted into an archive for the registry office. The listed complex, consisting of buildings and courtyards, was converted, expanded and redesigned by the architectural firm Grüntuch Ernst. They turned it into a cultural oasis in the heart of the city's hustle and bustle, which will open to the public in 2022. Today, Wilmina houses a hotel, a restaurant and the Amtsalon, a transdisciplinary venue dedicated to contemporary art.

The book traces the history of the site and illustrates the meticulous changes made to the historic structure. With historical and contemporary photographs and texts by Almut Grüntuch-Ernst and Armand Grüntuch, Tatiana Bilbao, Anh-Linh Ngo, Norman Ohler, Matthias Sauerbruch and Florian Siebeck, among others, it paints a comprehensive picture of a multifaceted part of Berlin's urban history and architectural culture.

2022 - Deutsch, English
25,1 × 30,8 × 2,3 cm – 175 pages
Editions DISTANZ
ISBN-10 3954764741
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