RADICAL ANTIQUITY

May 15 – October 31, 2021

Above all in the Rhineland in Central Germany, Krefeld native Heinz Bienefeld (1926–1995) designed and realized numerous ecclesiastical buildings and residential buildings over a period spanning some 40 years.

It is not easy to categorize the style of his architecture, which alternates between the classicism of a Palladio and the contemporary modern. Bienefeld, who trained at the Cologne Art and Crafts Schools (Kölner Werkschulen) under Dominikus Böhm and later worked for the latter’s son Gottfried Böhm as well as Emil Steffann placed a special focus on details and materiality in his work.

His buildings stand out for the precise profiling of their lines, exact connections between windows and brickwork and the harmonious laying of bricks. Bienefeld relied on models made of Plasticine as a means of arriving at the right shape and would create a large number of architecture sculptures that helped him develop his ideas for buildings.The exhibition presents selected buildings and projects in the form of a series of drawings, photographs and original models.