aac-Workshop, Hamburg, Germany
04.09. to 27.09.2024 at the Rainvilleterrasse campus in Hamburg

Description of Workshop Topic

This year's aac autumn workshop will focus on architectural interventions in the landscape.
The aim is to create points of orientation and resting places on the grounds of the WAI Woods Art Institute in Wentorf, which in their continuity can form a ‘Parcours découverte’.

On the one hand, this parcours is intended to provide orientation on the site, but on the other hand it should also allow visitors to spontaneously stroll around and discover the park and its artworks.

The extension and spatial manifestation of these discovery tours as well as the search for an architectural form of expression in discourse with the current architectural discussion are the subject of the aac workshop.

In Wentorf, in the immediate vicinity of Reinbek Castle and idyllically situated on the River Bille, is the site of the WAI Woods Art Institute, a cultural ensemble opened in 2019 by Julia and Rik Reinking with a museum, art school, artists' studios and a constantly growing sculpture garden. The former country estate of Belgian merchant Georges Fester now comprises the merchant's villa, an ensemble of thatched half-timbered houses, a boarding house from the 1940s and a former school building from 2000, which is now used as a modern exhibition centre for the WAI Galleries for the Reinking Collection. The 10-hectare park was laid out in 1914 by landscape gardener Rudolph Jürgens in the style of an English landscape garden and today, with its rich tree population and excitingly staged art objects, invites visitors to stroll and discover.

In addition to creating vantage points and places to take a break, the aim is to restore the visual and pathway relationship between the park and the course of the River Bille to the north, thereby making it possible to experience the entire area.

When developing these new, contemporary architectural elements, the aim is also to look to the future and thus find an innovative and at the same time timeless architectural design language that already takes into account a possible demolition in the design.

Description of Workshop Format

The designs will be conceptualised and developed in international groups. In addition to tutorials and interim presentations, the workshop will be accompanied by a public lecture programme. A joint, multi-day excursion to the WAI Woods Art Institute with land art projects, forest experiences and topic-related input lectures is also part of the workshop programme.

Following the workshop, the results will be shown in the form of an exhibition on the premises of the aac in Hamburg.

Chairmanship

The workshop is under the guidance of Dipl.-Ing. Architect Nikolaus Goetze and Dipl.-Ing. Architect Magdalene Weiss.