Humboldt Jungle @ Schlossaneignung

An article by Philipp Oswalt, an initiator of Sclossaneignung Initiative, in DOM magazine 17, mentions Humboldt Jungle, Hybrid Space Lab’s initiative for greening the Humboldt Forum façade.

Publication Schlossaneignung, Philipp Oswalt @ DOM magazine No. 17, DOM Publishers, Berlin, 1 November 2024

appropiate
the
Castle

Unwanted alternative proposals from others for the further development and formulation of the project were systematically thwarted and prevented.

When the architecture team Elizabeth Sikiaridi and Frans Vogelaar from Hybrid Space Lab proposed greening the palace façade in 2016 and based their Humboldt Jungle project on Alexander von Humboldt‘s concept of nature, Wilhelm von Boddien voiced a risk of collapse.

When the planned installation of the Christian cross on the dome was widely criticised by the public in 2017, the founding directors Neil MacGregor, Hermann Parzinger and Horst Bredekamp proposed the installation of Lars Ø. Ramberg‘s artwork Zweifel on the east façade. Although the foundation commissioned the Norwegian artist to carry out a feasibility study and considered purchasing the stored work, it soon cancelled these efforts without giving any reasons.

Berliners Sven Lochmann and Konrad Miller fared no better with their Leuchtturm project, which was intended to superimpose the controversial Bible verse on the dome of the Humboldt Forum at night with texts from an LED light installation. After the foundation and cultural policy had spoken out in favour of realising the project, its implementation planning was pushed ahead for two years and then discontinued for alleged cost reasons.

While the radicalisation of the reconstruction has been willingly paved the way over the past 20 years, every proposal for an intervention that critically reflects the problematic historical symbolism of the site has been blocked.

 

When the architecture team Elizabeth Sikiaridi and Frans Vogelaar from Hybrid Space Lab proposed greening the palace façade in 2016 and based their Humboldt Jungle project on Alexander von Humboldt’s concept of nature, Wilhelm von Boddien voiced a risk of collapse.

related PROJECTS

related PRESS

KOSMOS @ taz

Interview by Felix Hofmann, journalist at the Berlin taz newspaper in the taz Schlossaneignung Blog.

Interview & Publication, Felix Hofmann @ taz, Berlin, 27 November 2024

Wonderful Green Facade @ Tagesspiegel

Museum Director Paul Spies takes stock: “The streams of tourists are bypassing the Humboldt Forum”
There were wonderful proposals for the palace, such as a green façade.

Interview Paul Spies by Birgit Rieger @ Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 29 June 2024

Custodians of the Past or Shapers of the Future? @ Humboldt Forum

Hybrid Space Lab developed a series of projects for the radical appropriation of the controversial Humboldt Forum in Berlin:
Whereas Humboldt Jungle formulated a strong vision for the re-wilding of the Forum and Humboldt Volcano developed a concrete architectural design solution that addresses many of the foreseeable problems in the Humboldt Forum and that could be realized in the (near) future, Humboldt Kosmos is a fictional universe based on Humboldt Forum that opens up a multiplicity of possible futures.

Publication Humboldt Futures @ Atlas der Datenkörper 2, Transcript Verlag, Germany, 27 May 2024

Humboldt Futures @ Atlas der Datenkörper

Hybrid Space Lab developed a series of projects for the radical appropriation of the controversial Humboldt Forum in Berlin:
Whereas Humboldt Jungle formulated a strong vision for the re-wilding of the Forum and Humboldt Volcano developed a concrete architectural design solution that addresses many of the foreseeable problems in the Humboldt Forum and that could be realized in the (near) future, Humboldt Kosmos is a fictional universe based on Humboldt Forum that opens up a multiplicity of possible futures.

Publication Humboldt Futures @ Atlas der Datenkörper 2, Transcript Verlag, Germany, 27 May 2024

Humboldt Volcano @ RBB

A sort of staircase enveloped in jungle thickets, a waterfall and food offerings on the way up to the roof of Berlin’s city castle.

Publication @ RBB, Berlin, 5 February 2023

Daring Design @ Tagesspiegel

As adventurous as Humboldt himself: The design by the architecture firm Hybrid Space Lab for the Berlin Palace.

Publication by Julia Weiss @ Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 31 January 2023

 

Hybrid Heritage @ Practices of Heritage

How to re-signify heritage and physical monuments with the help of creative visions and hybrid (combined physical and digital) tools? Hybrid Heritage engages with this challenge presenting a series of projects researching and designing contemporary interpretations and further development of heritage from a multicultural perspective. Including the integration of digital technology and media networks in heritage projects, Hybrid Heritage also focuses on cultural hybridity in today’s globalized world.

Publication Hybrid Heritage @ Identity and Heritage, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Stuttgart, Germany, 1 Februari 2022

Re-Charting Places @ Designs for Vulnerable Memories

We need a fresh, radically innovative and solutions-oriented approach to address the various forms of contested heritage sites in a way that is fit for the 21st century.
Article on Hybrid Space Lab’s work on contested monuments, is published in Italy.

Publication Re-Charting Places @ Contested Spaces – Concerted Projects: Designs for Vulnerable Memories, LetteraVentidue Edizioni, Syracuse, Italy, April 2021

Future Heritage @ Points of View

What would it be like if a volcano erupted next to the new Berlin City Palace?
If huge trees grew there, exotic plants proliferated and a waterfall cascaded down?

Publication Future Heritage @ Points of View, DASA Museum, Dortmund, Germany 1 March 2020

Humbolt Jungle & Humboldt Volcano @ Publisher Querido

Humboldt Jungle and Humboldt Volcano are mentioned by author and historian Merlijn Schoonenboom in the book on identity “Een kleine geschiedenis van de grootse Duitse worsteling”.

Publication A small history of the great German struggle, Merlijn Schoonenboom @ Querido Publishers, Amsterdam, 5 December 2019

Humboldt Volcano @ A small history of the biggest German struggle

Hybrid Space Lab plan is in line with the undoubtedly most important question for contemporary cultural identity: the relationship between tradition and innovation. Their idea of ​​a growing green world around the castle is the portrayal of the idea of ​​tradition as a dynamic phenomenon.

Publication A small history of the biggest German struggle, Merlijn Schoonenboom @ Querido Publishers, Amsterdam, November 2019

Humboldt Jungle @ Der Tagesspiegel

The main Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, published an article on the Green party questions on the implementation of the Humboldt Jungle raised in the Bundestag, the German parliament.
“And in order to honor their name, the Greens asked for the “state of the considerations (…), a greenery, a so-called Humboldt Jungle, to be installed”. The brief reply: “Further measures on the facades are not provided.”

Publication Humboldt costs, yes and no @ Der Tagesspiegel, Germany, 19 July 2019

Humboldt Jungle @ German Parliament

One of the “questions” concerning the Humboldt Forum that the German Green Party (Fraktion BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN) put before the German Parliament, the “Deutscher Bundestag” on 2 July 2019 was:
Question 22: “What is the current state of the considerations on the part of the Federal Government for the greening of the facades, to install a so-called Humboldt Jungle?”

Publication 19/11306 Answer @ Deutscher Bundestag, German Federal Government, Germany, 2 July 2019

Humboldt Volcano @ The Vienna Hofburg

In the chapter “International Developments; The Schlossplatz and the Museum Island in Berlin” Humboldt Volcano is mentioned as the example of the rethinking of the Humboldt Forum.