There can be no doubt that with her design for an adventure portal in Weimar, Helga Blocksdorf has succeeded in making a remarkable building. It is very much a built experiment which, through its special material and spatial presence, does not seek so much to contrast with its setting but rather to reappropriate it in terms of construction. The starting point for the temporary portal building was provided by the archways of the wooden stables of the Red Palace in Weimar by architect Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray. They provide a basic typological reference for the new building, which sits directly on Coudray's wall, towering above it along a width of 16 metres. Another historical reference point is the bark-clad "Borkenhaeuschen" (little bark house), which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had built in 1778 in the nearby Ilmpark. This was originally intended as part of a stage and offers a further reference, in this case construction-based, to the local architectural heritage. And, indeed, while standard sheet metal is used to cover the mono-pitch roof of the adventure portal, the entire facade is made of strips of naturally bent birch bark, just like its historical model. These were mounted across the entire surface and fixed by means of vertical battens. On the one hand, the 225 m~2 surface of the facade appears visually modulated, while on the other a closer look reveals a natural, almost archaic appearance. Constructed of 16 to 18 cm thick solid wood elements, the building is designed for year-round use and is intended to remain on site for up to five years. After that, it can be dismantled and reused relatively easily.
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