Biography

The example of UP Berlin, the conversion of a department store from the 1970s. The project is not subtle, but self-confident, radical, respectful and consistent. Instead of demolishing the building, it underwent an intelligent conversion that reinterpreted the existing fabric, exaggerated and upgraded it, and combined it with gloss and value. The top floor was deconstructed, recesses and terraces break up the cube. Two layers of time come together and tell a new story without erasing the first chapters of the GDR’s largest department store. As the 40-year-old concrete was exposed and carefully preserved like an 18th century ceiling fresco, the result is in effect a kind of premature monument preservation. Martin Jasper © Martin Jasper https://www.jasperarchitects.com/