The Building Academy (Bauakademie) in Berlin, Germany, was a higher education school for the art of building to train master builders. It was built between 1832 and 1836 (later known as Schinkel's Bauakademie), is considered one of the forerunners of modern architecture due to its theretofore uncommon use of red brick and the relatively streamlined facade of the building.
Designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it was built near the Berlin City Palace and accommodated two royal Prussian institutions: the State Construction Commission (Oberbaudeputation), and the Building Academy (institution), which in 1879 gave birth to the Royal Technical Higher School (Koniglich Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg) - the forerunner of the Technical University of Berlin.
History
For nearly 50 years (1885-1933), the Bauakademie became the home of the "Koniglich Preussische Messbild-Anstalt" renamed to "Staatliche Bildstelle" in 1921. This institution, under its director Albrecht Meydenbauer, became the first worldwide office professionally working with photogrammetry and establishing an archive of historical buildings based on photography. By 1920, approximately 20.000 glass negatives of the format 30x30 cm and 40x40 cm had been collected in Germany and abroad.
During the Weimar period, the Bauakademie was the home of the famous Deutsche Hochschule fur Politik as well as other institutions supported by the State of Prussia. Damaged during World War II, the Bauakademie was then partially restored, but in 1962 the building was demolished to make room for the future Ministry of Foreign Affairs of East Germany.
In 1995, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of East Germany was demolished in order to recreate the Werderscher Markt area. Since then, proposals to rebuild Schinkel's Bauakademie have been discussed with the city and Federal authorities. The Werderscher Markt area has already been partially recreated by the Bertelsmann-funded reconstruction of the Alte Kommandantur.
Today
Between 2000 and 2001 students erected a temporary structure to give an impression of the volume and form of the building. Current proposals under consideration intend to use a reconstructed Bauakademie to accommodate an architecture museum as well as a Mercedes-Benz research institute about the future of the automobile.
