Guiding Lines (Public Art Competition Berlin 2019, awarded 2nd Prize)
The Ministry of the Interior in Berlin, renamed to the Ministry for Planning and Homeland (Bundesministerium für Bau und Heimat), hosted a public art competition for the design of its ground level floor, which serves as a thoroughfare for visitors, employees and various government officials. The building is not open to the public and visitors must go through a security screening to enter. Planned routes for press, visitors and employees were already drawn into the initial design.
My proposal was a black and yellow terrazzo floor whose snaking stripes vaguely emulate street markings. These winding lines trace and deviate from the routes planned for the people traveling through the building. My intent was to draw out something more organic and deviant through a building wherein movement was so carefully controlled. I wanted to put a question mark at the end of the paths the visitors are intended to follow. A guideline is not only a marker for movement, but also one for behavior. What possibilities lie beyond the accepted boundaries we are prescribed? How can we productively reach beyond the lines we've already drawn? Metaphorically speaking, my proposal is a plea for openness, despite the very controlled character of the building.
On a formal level, I wanted to contrast the rigid forms of the edifice to bring to light the human movement within it. The space between the plan and its implementation is where the most fruitful ideas occur.
