UMBAU. Nonstop Transformation

With UMBAU. Nonstop Transformation, gmp has been presenting the practice's approach to building conversions through specific case studies since last year. In October 2024, the traveling exhibition will be on display at Goethe-Institut in New York and at Architektur Galerie Berlin, each with different focal points.

The beginnings of gmp's engagement with the topic of conversion date back much further than the current public debate about the subject. A few years after the completion of Berlin-Tegel Airport in the mid-1970s, the practice was already working on its first conversions in Hamburg. To date, the firm’s list of conversions includes over eighty projects worldwide, with around a quarter of them currently at the design stage or under construction.

The exhibition concept for each venue is as unique and dynamic as each conversion project itself. Two of the projects that were still shown in the construction process at the inaugural exhibition in Venice in 2023 have now been completed: The Alster-Schwimmhalle was the focal point of the exhibition in Hamburg in March 2024. In Berlin, where gmp has completed and is currently designing the most conversions after Hamburg, the renovated and remodeled Magdeburg Hypar Shell will be presented in October. Along with the Dresden Kulturpalast and the Pressehaus at Alexanderplatz, the exhibition at Architektur Galerie Berlin showcases three successful examples of how to convert and preserve East German modernist buildings.

UMBAU. Nonstop Transformation at Goethe-Institut in New York will focus on the current global challenges relating to building conversions using examples of different building typologies. The transformation of high-rise buildings will be a topic, as will the conversion of cultural and sports buildings in Europe and Asia, including the recently completed Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid and the Isarphilharmonie in Munich. The exhibition is part of the Archtober architecture and design festival in New York and will also be featured during the Open House New York Weekend.