The general standard of the submitted designs and particularly the winning entries high-lights the international importance and reach of the Pina Bausch Centre. With Diller Sco-fidio + Renfro, the first prize went to one of the world’s leading architecture practices for cultural buildings. The New York studio, whose projects include the redesign of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) and other museum buildings in New York, Los Angeles, Boston and China, proposed a glass gallery reaching all the way to the street for the new Pina Bausch Centre. The Berlin studio Hascher Jehle Design, which specialises in education sector buildings, proposed a green timber structure with a pavilion in front of the main building. The Munich studio Auer Weber Assoziierte, which has designed the Marne Aquatic Centre near Paris and the Arena Aix-en-Provence, proposed a circular structure for the planned dance centre. The prizes were awarded after a lengthy process: At the end of last year, a panel of top experts reviewed the anonymised entries to select eight designs for the final round. The selection committee then met again at the beginning of June to select the three win-ning designs. Over the summer months, these three architecture studios will participate in a European public procurement process (VgV procedure) based on the competition’s award criteria. Once this process has been completed, a final decision will be made as to which of the three designs to build. All entries of the final round will be publicly presented at the former Schauspielhaus, a central part of the new Pina Bausch Centre, from 7 to 18 June.
It was a high-profile competition that attracted renowned national and international architecture practices, most of whom collaborated with landscape designers for their proposals. The three winning designs will be exhibited in the atrium of Wuppertal’s city hall after the summer break. Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, who was also a member of the jury, says: “World-class artistry and a deep understand-ing of our individuality and humanity – that is what Pina Bausch’s exceptional dance theatre stands for. The renowned dancer and choreographer always dared to break new ground and bring together different disciplines. Architecturally, we want the new Pina Bausch Centre to be just as open to people and new ideas. The State of NRW supports the City of Wuppertal and the federal government in this endeavour, which is of special importance for culture in North Rhine-Westphalia!”
At the first meeting of the jury panel in December 2022, the Stuttgart-based architect Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir was unanimously elected committee chairperson. She says: “To create the art of the future and give it the space it needs, we also need an architecture of the future. This will determine the future of public life in our cities. The jury was very impressed by the quality and diversity of the designs. The fact that the city and state, together with the clients – Tanztheater Wuppertal and Pina Bausch Foundation – spent time formulating their vision and requirements in a series of preparatory workshops, proved very successful. We were able to select ground-breaking designs. As jury mem-bers and experts, we assessed the quality of the designs and the way they addressed the call’s cultural and political priorities, as well as the needs of end users, functionality, feasibility and the connection to the city.”
Prof. Dr Uwe Schneidewind, the Mayor of Wuppertal, emphasises how important the project is for Wuppertal: “I would like to thank all participants for working together so well on the jury panel. We have selected three forward-looking architectural designs. Our cities need future projects that will act as catalysts and engines for transformation. Our starting point for this project is the tremendous artistic courage and deep humanity of Pina Bausch and her artistic oeuvre. More than ever, we need the combination of in-ternational collaboration, local quality of life and global empathy. Boris Charmatz, the new artistic director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal, started out this season with as much courage and contemporary relevance as she did. By funding the Pina Bausch Cen-tre, the federal government and state of North Rhine-Westphalia are sending a strong message. Our goal is to create a new, open space for art; a place where people from Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia and the world can come together; and a best prac-tice example in terms of sustainability.
Matthias Nocke, the City of Wuppertal’s Head of Cultural Affairs, reiterates the quality of the competition: “After many years of intensive preparation, we now have a selection of the best designs. Wuppertal will have an international centre for production and per-formance that is dedicated to preserving and developing the legacy of Pina Bausch. It will be a place of discourse and artistic exploration, where contemporary issues and questions are negotiated. In terms of urban development, the entire area between Döp-persberg and Gerichtsinsel on both sides of the B7 will be redesigned, leading to further investment and extensive new opportunities.” The exhibition will open on 7 June 2023 at 12 noon. Afterwards, the Pina Bausch Centre Council Commission and the City of Wuppertal’s Cultural Committee will hold a joint meeting there. From 7pm, jury panel members Mayor Prof. Dr Uwe Schneidewind and Susanne Wartzeck, the president of the BDA (Association of German Architects), will lead a public panel discussion on the topic of “Spaces for art in the 21st century”, fol-lowed by a guided tour of the exhibition. Members of the public will be invited to learn about the project’s cultural policy goals and the selection and procurement process. Un-til the final decision has been announced, the architectural quality of the designs and their merit in terms of urban planning cannot and must not (yet) be discussed.
On 14 June at 7pm, another panel discussion will address the impact of pioneering con-temporary cultural institutions on urban development and public life in the city. Entitled “LANDMARKS DESIGNED IN TERMS OF DANCE – Cultural and arts spaces of the future”, it will feature Boris Charmatz, the new artistic director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch; Salomon Bausch, founder and director of the Pina Bausch Foundation; Eva Pepper and Nadia Balfe of the Manchester International Festival; and Mikael Aaltonen, the programme manager of Dance House Helsinki, which opened in 2022. The exhibition will be open to the public Monday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm, and Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Guided tours will be offered at specific times.
Background: The design competition for the new Pina Bausch Centre was announced in April 2022. The two-stage competition invited applicants from all over Europe, including many renowned studios. The Pina Bausch Centre will be an international arts centre and cultural venue. It will occupy the former Wuppertal Schauspielhaus, a listed building originally designed by Prof. Gerhard Graubner, as well as a flexible and multi-use new building. An attractive architectural structure will connect the two buildings to create a unified whole. The project offers a rare opportunity to invent a new interdisciplinary cultural institution for the 21st century. The dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch (1940 – 2009) was a pioneer of modern dance theatre and one of the most important choreographers and artists of the 20th cen-tury. Her artistic courage continues to guide us. The Pina Bausch Centre will be a wel-coming and highly sustainable contemporary space that is open all day and invites par-ticipation from a broad range of people. The German federal government alone is fund-ing the project with around 40 million euros, co-financed by the City of Wuppertal and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The centre’s future activities will be organised around four ‘columns’: the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, the Pina Bausch Foun-dation with its extensive archive, an international and interdisciplinary production house, and the participatory activities of the “Forum Wupperbogen”. The “Kulturinsel” in the centre of Wuppertal-Eberfeld will thus become a lively and creative meeting place for artists, residents and visitors alike.
The jury was made up of top experts in the field of architecture. They were: Prof. Anne Julchen Bernhardt (Cologne/Aachen); Christoph Felger, architect and partner at David Chipperfield Architects (Berlin); Louisa Hutton, architect (Berlin); Prof. Marianne Müller, architect (London/Berlin/Stuttgart); Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir, architect (Stuttgart); Herwig Spiegl, architect (Vienna); and Susanne Wartzeck, architect (Dipperz). Also on the jury, representing the client side, were: Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia; Prof. Dr Uwe Schneidewind, Mayor of the City of Wuppertal; Boris Charmatz, artistic director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch; Salomon Bausch, founder and director of the Pina Bausch Foundation; Dagmar Liste-Frinker, chair of the Council Monitoring and Steering Commission of the Pina Bausch Centre project; and Dr Hildegard Kaluza, head of culture at the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The jury meetings were also attended by deputy jury members from the fields of architecture and urban planning, by repre-sentatives of end users (including residents, local politicians and civil servants), and by the examiners of the competition’s preliminary round.
Free tickets for guided tours of the exhibition and the panel discussions are available here:
Guided Tours: https://www.wuppertal-live.de/user/1188
First Panel: https://www.wuppertal-live.de/?467619
Second Panel: https://www.wuppertal-live.de/?467620