History
Built in 1975, the present-day airport was designed by the then-young architecture firm von Gerkan, Marg and Partners. The terminal building's iconic hexagonal layout not only guaranteed the fastest check-in routine for any major airport in the world but also became a visual marker for anyone traveling to or from Berlin. Because Tegel served as the sole gateway to and from the West Berlin exclave, many Berliners developed a sentimental relationship with it.
The airport's buildings were landmarked in 2019 and decommissioned in 2021 after the new Flughafen Brandenburg was opened in 2020. Tegel is now the site of a large state-led urban redevelopment project, including a new campus for Berliner Hochschule für Technik within the main terminal building.
The Program
Pratt Berlin was founded in 2010 and originally conceived within Pratt's School of Architecture. Directed by Professors Gisela Baurmann and Jonas Coersmeier, the Summer 2023 installment of the program forges an in-depth engagement with faculty and students and focuses on issues of urbanity, social entrepreneurship, and civic engagement, aiming to develop a sense of strategic innovation and empowerment through design. In partnership with Kunsthochshule Weißensee and hosted by the Aedes Network Campus, the seminar invites students to develop adaptive reuse concepts for the former Flughafen Tegel land and buildings.
The students' final concepts covered a vast range of forms, purposes, and scales, including refugee housing, community gardens, interactive sculptures, bike paths made from decommissioned aircraft, and an artificial mountain! View our work here.
Pratt Institute Faculty
Gisela Baurmann, Dipl. Ing. Architektin MSAAD, Coordinator, Adjunct Associate Professor
Jonas Coersmeier, Dipl. Ing. Architekt MSAAD, Adjunct Associate Professor CCE
Students
Karson Zhu
BArch
Ramya Allaparthi
BArch
Shujun Liu
BArch
Aleksandar Rakicevic-More
BArch
Gianna Ouyang
BArch
Xinyi Lin
BArch
Leyre Jimenez
BArch
Heather Besemer-Schulz
MArch
Melissa Chow
MS Sustainable Environmental Systems
Lewis Anderson
MS Urban Placemaking & Management
Tailai Deng
BFA Sculpture & Integrated Practices
Paul Lagassé
MFA Interior Design
Elly Loiacono
BID Industrial Design
Carl Bahra
MA Product Design
Leandra Balliel
MA Product Design
Monika Dimitrova
MA Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation
Jurors
Kristen Feireiss
Aedes
Hans Jürgen Commerell
Aedes
Konrad Braun
Haus der Statistik
Ana Lichtwer
Haus der Statistik
Svea Braeunert
Filmuniversität Babelsberg
Jürgen Dünnwald
Museumsdienst Berlin
Adam Elstein
Pratt Institute
Syri Lenssen
Tegel Projekt GmbH
Kashayar Razghandi
Max Planck Institute
Marc Richter
Zoom Architekten
Christiane Sauer
Kunsthochschule Weißensee
Collaborators
Anastasia Zagorni
Kunsthochschule Weißensee
Elisabeth Kitzerow
Kunsthochschule Weißensee
Dunya Bouchi
Managing Director, Aedes
Clemens Kampermann
gmp Architects
Konrad Braun
Haus der Statistik
Jürgen Dünnwald
Museumsdienst Berlin
Marija Marchuk
Tegel Projekt GmbH
We thank our jurors and collaborators for supporting and contributing to this year's installment of the Pratt Berlin program.