Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte

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The German couple Ralf Schüler (born October 26, 1930 ; † March 10, 2011 in Berlin ) and Ursulina Schüler-Witte (* February 2, 1933 in Berlin as Ursulina Witte) ran a joint architecture office .

Life

The trained electrical mechanic Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Witte, who was born in Berlin-Pankow , met in 1953 while studying architecture at the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). Ursulina Witte completed her studies in 1960 with a diploma. From November 1961 to August 1967 both were employed in the private architecture office of their professor Bernhard Hermkes . During this time, Ralf Schüler worked primarily as a construction manager on the building of the architecture faculty of the TU Berlin on Ernst-Reuter-Platz . Working at Hermkes prompted Ralf Schüler to drop out of his studies in 1966, as he considered himself fully trained by working in the office.

In 1964 Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Witte took part in the competition for the design of the Blissestrasse subway station . Since Hermkes was a member of the jury, the competition entry of the two was excluded, but still included in the evaluation. The design by Schüler / Witte was rated as the best and thus the competition was unsuccessful, as no other competition entry was awarded good enough. With their contribution students and Witte could draw attention to themselves in spite of exclusion and were subsequently in 1967 the contract for the design of the subway station Schloßstraße as a direct award . In the same year Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Witte married and opened their architecture office in Berlin.

At the location of the future Schloßstraße underground station, the 104 federal motorway was to be linked to the Steglitzer Kreuz . Thus, a multidimensional traffic node should be created. Although only commissioned to design the subway station, the two architects extended their design area to the head buildings of the subway station and the elevated street without being asked. To emphasize the traffic junction, they also suggested a monolithic sculpture, for which they received no funding. In order to still be able to emphasize the facility, they designed a tower with three utility floors, which they proposed to private investors. After various design stages, financing from West German real estate speculators and an interim construction stop, the Bierpinsel was opened in 1976 .

Parallel to the work on the beer brush, Schüler / Schüler-Witte won the competition for the new building of the Berlin Congress Center, which later became the International Congress Center (ICC) Berlin. The ICC (1971–1979) became the main work of the two architects. Despite the scope of the ICC contract and the international recognition for one of the most modern congress centers in the world, Schüler / Schüler-Witte never achieved an international standing. The ICC contract remained the largest project of the two. Later projects were mainly renovation projects and consulting activities for the construction of motorway bridges.

Characteristic of the early work - and thus the main work - by Schüler and Schüler-Witte are the emphasis on technical elements, the concise three-dimensional design and experimentation with new building materials and production methods.

Ralf Schüler died in 2011 at the age of 80. He found his final resting place in the Witte family grave in the Lichterfelde park cemetery in Berlin.

Works

Residential buildings

Public buildings

Museum buildings

  • Project Technikmuseum Berlin on Jaffé- / Heerstraße or in Tempelhof Airport (1966–1974)
  • Project pavilion Kalabsha Gate / Sahure Temple in the garden of Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin (1972)
  • Reconstruction of the antique museum in the western Stülerbau, together with Goerd Peschken , Schloßstraße 1, Berlin-Charlottenburg (1972–1974) and treasury in the basement, together with Helge Sypereck (1974–1975)
  • Extension of the Egyptian Museum Berlin in the Marstall, Schloßstraße 69a, Berlin-Charlottenburg (1982–1983), connected with it:
    • Conversion in the eastern Stülerbau, Schloßstraße 70 (1983–1984)
    • Hall construction at the Marstall (Sahure Temple, 1983–1989)
    • Collection of antique sculptures, together with Helge Sypereck, Schlossstrasse 69b (1985–1988)
    • District Museum Charlottenburg, Schloßstraße 69 (1987)
    • Natural science collection (Schloßstraße 69a, 1987–1989)
  • Werner Collection of the Order of St. John , Berlin-Lichterfelde (1985)
  • Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Charlottenburg Palace , Berlin (1987–1989)
  • Proposals for the reconstruction of the Berlin City Palace (1993–1998)
  • Various temporary exhibition designs

Halls, centers

Public transport

bridges

Highway construction

gallery

literature

  • Lukas Foljanty: The Steglitz transport hub. Beer brush, Schloßstraße underground station, Joachim-Tiburtius-Brücke. The first work by Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte (= ISR gray series . Issue 30). University Press of the Technical University of Berlin, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-7983-2282-0 ( PDF ; 9.3 MB).
  • Marianne Schmidt: A man and his world. The Berlin architect Ralf Schüler. In: Lui (German edition), issue 11/1978.
  • Ursulina Schüler-Witte: Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte. A work-oriented biography of the architects of the ICC. Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86732-212-6 .

Web links

Commons : Ralf Schüler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berlin architect Ralf Schüler died . In: Berliner Morgenpost , March 11, 2011, accessed on March 12, 2011.
  2. ↑ Lukas Foljanty: Still full steam ahead against the norm - Ralf Schüler on the 80th urbanophil.net, October 26, 2010, accessed on September 16, 2018.
  3. ^ A b Goerd Peschken : Memories of Ralf Schüler (1930–2011) . In: Bauwelt , No. 15–16 / 2011, p. 2 ( PDF ).
  4. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Ralf Schüler