Akademie fĂĽr Malerei
Art school, Berlin, Germany
The Akademie für Malerei is a private art school in Berlin. It involves studio spaces for students and a class room for group meetings and small exhibitions. The owner, painter Ute Wöllmann, asked for additional space to store paintings, canvas and art materials. The project is all about simplicity and lightness. UA suggested a series of light wooden structures which hang off the ceiling at a height of 2.20 meters. There is no support below, allowing the free flow of people. For storage and structural reasons the structures are divided into compartments. They offer a maximum storage height of 1.60 m at a depth of 1.50 m.
Architects: Jens Brinkmann
Collaborators: Diana Saric

Photo: Frank Hülsbömer
Seat Pads for Stairs
House B, Hanover, Germany
CH56
Photography Studio, Berlin, Germany
The client asked for the reorganization of the entrance space to his photography studio and adjacent offices. This involved a better orientation for visitors, a new lighting concept and the creation of storage space for photo equipment.
The project creates a new passageway inside the existing space. On one side, the black linoleum floor folds up the wall to a height of 2 meters, on the other side movable plywood wall panels form a continuous surface of the full height of the room up to 3.10m. At one point, the panels are folded. The tracks at the ceiling form a cross, running along the whole length of the space. Like this the wall panels can be shifted into the passageway to access the storeroom which is located behind them.
The lighting concept is based on fluorescent tubes which are installed into the ceiling. They run along the course of tracks of the wall panels. This creates a dynamic impression for the visitor.