Making Heritage: Das Garagenmanifest

Garage complexes from the GDR (German Democratic Republic) times are a rather under-appreciated building typology. They were never part of original plans for socialist residential areas, and they never became part of the official historiography. These seemingly banal objects, in fact serve as a testimony of the social conditions, condensed history and cultural values that were prevalent throughout the second half of the past century in East Germany. This is what makes them an outstanding subject for a study on participative heritage conservation processes and conflicts. “Das Garagenmanifest” – exhibited 2017 at Architektur Galerie Berlin – portrays the phenomenon with nine case studies from the city of Cottbus in Brandenburg, Germany. Describing the complexes in the very first architectural record with drawings, texts, and photographs, reveals their significance, complexity and meaning. The project is an intentional intervention in and a reflection of the contemporary heritage discourse by way of an architectural manifesto.

Luise is an architecture critic and architectural researcher based in Berlin. She holds a B.A. in European Studies and a M.Sc. in Building and Conservation. She has been teaching in the Department of Architectural Conservation at Brandenburg University of Technology BTU Cottbus and in the Department of Architecture Theory and Design at Kassel University. From 2012 to 2013 she was a graduate intern at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles. From 2015 to 2018 Luise served as board member at the national committee of ICOMOS Germany. She is currently a PhD Candidate at the DFG Research Training Group 1913, Cultural and technological significance of historic buildings at BTU Cottbus.

Free and open to the public.

Organized as part of the Preservation Lecture Series, an initiative of the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia GSAPP.