Edgar Wisniewski (4 September 1930, in Stolp,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(now

Słupsk Słupsk (; , ; formerly german: Stolp, ; also known by several alternative names) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specific ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) – 25 April 2007, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

) was a German architect. He was a student and later business partner of

Hans Scharoun Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the Berliner Philharmonie (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important ...

Life

Wisniewski was born in 1930 as the younger of two children (his sister was born in 1926) to architect Bruno Wisniewski and pianist Edith Wisniewski (née Berndt) in Stolp. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the subsequent

expulsion of Germans from Poland The flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II. The German population fled or was expelled from all regions which are currently within ...

, the family escaped to Berlin in September 1945. His interest in music and architecture developed at home with his parents. He justified his decision to undertake architectural studies as a "more rational solution, because architecture seemed to me less of a professional risk than music." Berlin_Philharmonie_Modell

Wisniewski studied from 1950 to 1957 at the Technical University of Berlin with Hans Scharoun, afterwards becoming his colleague and, later, business partner. He was involved from the beginning in the planning of the urban regeneration project of the

Kulturforum The Kulturforum ( en, Cultural Forum) is a collection of cultural buildings in Berlin. It was built up in the 1950s and 1960s at the edge of West Berlin, after most of the once unified city's cultural assets had been lost behind the Berlin Wal ...

in Berlin. In 1963, the

Berliner Philharmonie The Berliner Philharmonie () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is o ...

was the first building to be completed, and Wisniewski was the lead partner for this. It was followed in 1978 by the opening of the

Berlin State Library The Berlin State Library (german: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the ...

. During the planning phase in 1972, Scharoun died. There was a contractual agreement between Wisniewski and Scharoun which said that in the event of the death of one or other partner, the remaining partner would continue the work. From 1979 to 1984 the

State Institute for Music Research The State Institute for Music Research (german: Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung or ''SIMPK'') is a musicological research facility in Berlin, Germany for the study of Musical Instruments, Music History, Music Theory and Music technology. ...

and the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum were established. Wisniewski planned and realised the Berlin chamber music hall between 1984 and 1987 following Scharoun's original project sketches. Until then, many years of debate had taken place in the State Parliament House of Berlin until Richard von Weizsäcker, as the mayor, finally reached a decision for the construction. In addition to the central theme of "Music in the Centre", Wisniewski was particularly interested in the architectural requirements for the performance of contemporary music, e.g., through the use of mezzanine spaces for chamber music.http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/736/1/blundelljonesp4.pdf For this he consulted with composers such as

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono beg ...

, who also wrote works for the building and the possibilities it offered. The outstanding acoustics of the hall have been praised by numerous ensembles and conductors worldwide. The fall of the Berlin Wall, which was in the immediate vicinity of the Kulturforum, and the reconstruction of the

Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corn ...

, completely changed the overall urban building context in Berlin. A number of Scharoun's original designs were never reaslised as a result, including the Senate guest-house for artists, which was part of the competition for the construction of the state library. Nevertheless, Wisniewski continued until the end to complete his overall concept, which had many critics since the beginning and triggered numerous debates. In addition to his work for the Berlin Kulturforum, Wisniewski also developed housing projects. In the late 1970s, he planned a terrace house group in Berlin-Schlachtensee (Kirchblick 12a-c), where Wisniewski and his family themselves lived. After

Reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governm ...

, Wisniewski planned the reconstruction and development along organic principles of post-war prefabricated buildings in the former GDR, especially in

Prenzlau Prenzlau (, formerly also Prenzlow) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Uckermark District. It is also the centre of the historic Uckermark region. Geography The town is located on the Ucker river, about north of Be ...

. Extensive plans for Neubrandenburg, however, were not realised.

Honors

* 1997: First class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Literature

* Edgar Wisniewski: ''Die Berliner Philharmonie und ihr Kammermusiksaal. Der Konzertsaal als Zentralraum'', Gebrüder Mann Verlag 1993. * Edgar Wisniewski et al.: ''Wege zur Musik. Herausgegeben anlässlich der Eröffnung des neuen Hauses'', Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung Preußischer Kulturbesitz 1984.

References

External links

*
Kurzbio bei baunetz.de

Interview mit Edgar Wisniewski
taz 25. April 2005

Berliner Morgenpost, 5. Januar 2007

Edgar-Wisniewski-Archiv
im Archiv der Akademie der Künste, Berlin {{DEFAULTSORT:Wisniewski, Edgar Architects from Berlin 20th-century German architects Modernist architects 1930 births 2007 deaths Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from Słupsk