Academy of Architecture by Karl Friedrich Schinkel

The Bauakademie (Academy of Architecture), built opposite the Royal Palace by Karl Friedrich Schinkel between 1832 and 1836, was a beautiful and most important building in the centre of Ber­lin. Furthermore it became the prototype for the future exposed-brick buildings in Prussia, whereas its extraordinary construction and building techniques pointed the way to modern architecture in general.

The Bauakademie was the last of the group of buildings that accomplished Schinkel’s concept of urban development, the so-called Kupfergraben landscape, a landscape garden interspersed with cubical elements. From far, the building presented itself as a cube with structured façades: eight window bays with tripartite windows between colossal piers, four storeys, each marked by moulding courses, and two portals on the north side. Bands of glazed tiles enlivened the face of the building, which was covered with the very finest tiles. The iconographic programme – terra cotta relief panels under the windowsills depicting “moments in the development of architecture” (Schinkel) – were the same on all sides. In its technology and its aesthetic aspect, the Bauaka­demie is held to be the model of the multi-storeyed factory of the 19th century in Germany.