The life of things

Fifteen years ago Johannes Modersohn and Antje Freiesleben started up an architectural office together in Berlin. Their first work, the spacious platform hall at Potsdamer Platz regional train station, with its clear passarelle, is used daily by thousands of Berliners and other travelers. Designs for public buildings, residences in and outside of the city, and renovations of historical and office buildings followed.nnIt is not through grand gestures and spectacular shapes that the architecture by Modersohn & Freiesleben makes an impression, but rather, through its quality, practicality, and concision. The buildings create spaces that not only permit life to occur, but also enrich it, instead of proscribing ways to live.nnIn this book Tobias Zepter presents a selection of the architects’ work. From an inside perspective he explains how the specific site, the history of the building type, functional demands, and construction ideas are incorporated into the design process, making their buildings what they are: succinct, precise, and “ordinary.”