42 Hectare
Urban planning competition for lands adjacent to Sachsenhausen.
| Design | 1993 (competition) |
| Role | Project Architect |
| Affiliation | Atelier Czech |
Oranienburg, Germany.
During the war, this 42 hectare site accommodated the staff and guards of the adjacent concentration camp. The site also served as the main headquarters for the SS and the directorate for all camps. Subsequent uses of the land were by the Russian Army, and, after reunification, the police. The town of Oranienburg was concerned about the incompatibility of using the site for its now democratic police force. This prompted the city to invite ideas about how to appropriately re-use the lands by holding a competition.
Atelier Czech’s successful entry addresses the problem of complicity that flows beyond the bounds of the barbed wire around the actual concentration camp. Although many atrocities took place inside of this line, during the day the prisoners were employed in the surrounding city. This makes it quite difficult to designate a particular place as ‘evil’ and outside of this boundary ‘good’. The competition asked whether it was possible to reintegrate the site into the city and to preserve the former buildings. Our proposal overlaid a new street system on the site, overwhelming the previous grid and stranding the existing buildings in the new system. In German, this concept of shifting the familiar out of place is designated Entfremdung.
Competition Entry, First Prize. 1993.
Related Links
Comments from architecture critic Walter Zschokke [PDF]
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