Practice project Tempelhof Airport: THFx Monument Workshop 2024.1 ” High-modern constructions: repair and retrofitting”

June 17 and 18, 2024 in Berlin-Tempelhof

The former Berlin-Tempelhof Airport is one of the largest listed building complexes in Germany. Built between 1936 and 1941, the facility mirrors several phases of German history in a unique way. The huge building complex is also of particular importance in terms of construction history; back in 2011, it was already honored by the Federal Chamber of Engineers as a “Historical Landmark of the Art of Engineering”.

The Tempelhof Projekt GmbH, founded in the same year, is responsible for the preservation, operation and further development of the challenging property. Since 2022, it has regularly hosted “Expert Meetings” as part of “Monument Workshops” to provide impulses on fundamental issues.

The concept of the “THFx Denkmalwerkstatt 2024.1” with the topic “High-modern constructions: repair and retrofitting” was developed in close cooperation with the coordination office of the SPP 2255. Three of the five external presentations at the expert meeting came from our priority program. The coordinator of SPP 2255, Werner Lorenz, opened the discussion with some essential reflections on the heritage value of construction, Roland May used the case study of Tempelhof Airport to sharpen the specific view on construction as cultural heritage and Clara Jiva Schulte explained—with cross-reference to findings from the sub-project she is working on in SPP 2255—different processes, projects and regulatory obstacles in connection with such difficult monuments. The workshop, which took place on 17 and 18 June 2024, met with great interest, with numerous representatives from politics, monument preservation and construction planning taking part.

The cooperation with Tempelhof Projekt GmbH will continue after this fruitful event. Furthermore, the experience gained with this first “practice project” provides an important basis for similar project partnerships, through which the SPP 2255 will contribute its own content-related expertise to real planning processes. The next practice project will be an expert hearing on the Wuppertal suspension railroad in August 2024.

THF_Denkmalwerkstatt_Programm_2024

Werner Lorenz während seines Grundlagenvortrags „Denkmalwert der Konstruktion“. Foto © Tempelhof Projekt GmbH.

Podiumsdiskussion am 17.6.2024 mit (v.l.) Ela Kagel, Christoph Rauhut, Heinz Jirout, Petra Kahlfeldt und Werner Lorenz. Filmstill © Tempelhof Projekt GmbH.

Finsterwalder-Träger über der Abfertigungshalle und Kragkonstruktion der Flugsteighalle des ehemaligen Flughafens Tempelhof. Montage Roland May

Clara Jiva Schulte berichtet aus einem Workshop des Expert Meetings am 18.6.2024.

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