Building across worlds

Over the past 50 years, the architectural office von Gerkan, Marg und Partner has realised 400 projects worldwide – from single-family homes to cultural edifices and office buildings, from transport facilities to master plans. Many of the buildings were constructed throughout Asia – yet how to build in the cultural environment and on the proper scale in China and Vietnam, for example? What sort of knowledge can be transferred from construction work in Europe – and how much do construction projects, in their sociologically and culturally familiar contexts, benefit from the experienced gained there? Various principles, conditions and times determine the context in which gmp operates. The extract included herein from the gmp portfolio draws parallels between current domestic and international projects, while supplemental references to earlier buildings offer a look back at the office's development. Here, the focus is primarily on the question of how knowledge and experience engage in a dialogue with design work based on rationality.