The international competition
The architectural competition for the new Pina Bausch Centre was announced in April 2022. It was a high-profile competition that attracted renowned national and international architecture practices, most of whom collaborated with landscape designers for their proposals. The two-stage competition invited applicants from all over Europe, including many renowned studios. The Pina Bausch Centre will be an international arts centre and cultural venue. It will occupy the former Wuppertal Schauspielhaus, a listed building originally designed by Prof. Gerhard Graubner, as well as a flexible and multiuse new building. An attractive architectural structure will connect the two buildings to create a unified whole. The project offers a rare opportunity to invent a new interdisciplinary cultural institution for the 21st century.
Jury with top experts
The jury was made up of top experts in the field of architecture. They were: Prof. Anne Julchen Bernhardt (Cologne/Aachen); Christoph Felger, architect and partner at David Chipperfield Architects (Berlin); Louisa Hutton, architect (Berlin); Prof. Marianne Müller, architect (London/Berlin/Stuttgart); Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir, architect (Stuttgart); Herwig Spiegl, architect (Vienna); and Susanne Wartzeck, architect (Dipperz). Also on the jury, representing the client side, were: Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia; Prof. Dr Uwe Schneidewind, Mayor of the City of Wuppertal; Boris Charmatz, artistic director of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch; Salomon Bausch, founder and director of the Pina Bausch Foundation; Dagmar Liste-Frinker, chair of the Council Monitoring and Steering Commission of the Pina Bausch Centre project; and Dr Hildegard Kaluza, head of culture at the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The jury meetings were also attended by deputy jury members from the fields of architecture and urban planning, by representatives of end users (including residents, local politicians and civil servants), and by the examiners of the competition’s preliminary round.