Alexander Schwarz
short CV
Alexander Schwarz studied architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zürich), the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design and the University of Stuttgart after completing training as a violin maker. He has been working for David Chipperfield Architects since 1996, first in London and since 1998 in Berlin. In 2006 he became one of the executive directors and became a partner in 2011. As Design Director he is responsible for the designs of numerous projects and competitions including for the Neue Museum and the James Simon Gallery on Berlin’s Museum Island, the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach and the Museum Folkwang in Essen. In addition, Alexander Schwarz combines practice with teaching through his academic commitments. In 2015, he took over the Chair for “Public Buildings and Design” at the University of Stuttgart.
Abstract
„We need a formula for pathos“
On the Design for the James Simon Gallery on Berlin’s Museum Island As the new entrance to the Museum Island, the James Simon Gallery completes the urban ensemble of the “Freistätte der Kunst und der Wissenschaft” (Sanctuary of Art and Science), which Friedrich Wilhelm IV initiated to be the ideal center of Berlin. At the beginning of the Museum Island stands K. F. Schinkel’s Altes Museum paradigmatically as an architecture of sublime accessibility.