The gardens of Walter Rossow Academy of Arts at the Hanseatenweg

The gardens at the Akademie der Künste reflect the ideas of the landscape architect Walter Rossow and the architect Werner Düttmann, who in congenial collaboration developed the Haus der Akademie with its gardens as an interplay of interior and exterior, of house and open space as a total work of art, so that the boundaries between landscape and house seem to be suspended.

With the International Building Exhibition (Interbau) in 1957, the Hansa Quarter was created on the edge of the Tiergarten, a composition of outstanding solitary buildings by international architects. They are embedded in a loosely designed park landscape, to this day a special place in the densely built-up city. Walter Rossow was intensively involved in the conception of the Interbau.
A little later, a private foundation made it possible to build a new domicile on the edge of the Hansa Quarter for the Academy, which was reestablished in the western part of Berlin in 1954. The house and gardens were inaugurated on 18.06.1960. The architect was Werner Düttmann with Sabine Schumann; the gardens were designed by Walter Rossow, a truly congenial collaboration. Like Düttmann, Rossow valued a clear and matter-of-fact formal language. The appeal came primarily from sensitively composed plant images, which stood in exciting contrast to the architecture.

A plan from Walter Rossow's archive makes it clear that architecture and garden art were designed and interwoven here in such a way that the boundaries between landscape and house seem to have been abolished.

Rossow uses the backdrop of the large trees that surround the property and allows them to become a frame for the buildings. Large lawns, again planted with trees, create a tranquil apron to the north and integrate the parking areas. Characteristic of Rossow's design approach are the low masonry edges that make plain lawns look like a precious parterre.

A plaza gently sloping over steps leads to the main entrance, an inviting gesture that at the same time makes the large group of buildings seem even more modest in their surroundings. One reaches the foyer, seemingly low, but not oppressive, because already here the view expands into the courtyards and gardens of the house. The grey slates lead from the forecourt through the foyer and out again into the courtyards, looser there and interspersed with planted areas.

The courtyard, separated from the foyer only by high walls of windows, is now dominated by a mighty beech tree, which forms a space of its own. The opposite side of the courtyard, the glass corridor, already allows the southern garden to shine through, opening onto the Tiergarten. Originally designed as a cheerful summer scene through grasses, perennials and rose garden, today, having fallen into disrepair, it appears as a wilderness. The original planting concept is no longer recognizable, just as the grounds as a whole are in need of restoration and expert further development 50 years after their creation. The garden monument is not in the best condition.

The heart of the exhibition rooms on the first floor is the Gräserhof. It was expertly restored a few years ago and today most clearly reflects the ideas of Düttmann and Rossow, the design of interior and exterior, of house and open space as a total work of art.