Haus mit Eigenschaften

Berlin architect Tobias Nöfer has built a house on Kurfürstendamm that sees itself as an antithesis to O. M. Ungers’ programmatic “House without Properties” from 1995. With an opulently designed façade of Franconian Jurassic, bay windows, balconies, a two-story portal, and a courtyard with a fountain, the office and commercial building demonstrates that Palais Holler wants to catch up with the building stock of the Kurfürstendamm palaces. Out of respect for the public, the urban public, and the flanating passersby, it professes architectural qualities that please the eye and the mind, rather than rejecting them through vehement reduction. The book shows the building in detail in text, plan and picture. The photos were taken primarily by Maximilian Meisse. The book is preceded by an examination of the architect’s architectural approach in essays by urban historian Benedikt Goebel, art historian Peter Stephan, sociologist Cornelia Dörries, theater director Alexis Bug, writers Nis-Momme Stockmann and Simon Strauß, artist Christopher Lehmpfuhl, and publicist and publisher Gerwin Zohlen.

Tobias Nöfer, architect and author, worked with O. M. Ungers and Hans Kollhoff in Cologne and Zurich and as an assistant to Christoph Mäckler at the Chair of Urban Planning at the TU Dortmund University. He has been running his office in Berlin since 1998 and works with large buildings mainly in Berlin Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg and Wilmersdorf. He follows the guidelines of “Berlinian architecture”, which starts from the urban context when designing and strengthens the urban situation. Out of respect for the public, the urban public, and the flanating passersby, it professes architectural qualities that please the eye and the mind, rather than rejecting them through vehement reduction. The book shows the building in detail in text, plan and picture.