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Europe's largest work of art
A featureless block of flats dating back to East German times has been transformed into Europe’s largest work of art. Challenging the frequently grey skies that hang above the city, Berlin has been enhanced by the warmth of the South.
Spanish artist Gustavo has used bright colours to paint his somewhat bizarre pictures, including a crimson sun, a royal family and a shy, surrealistic actor. The fantasy images of this internationally renowned artist cover an area of almost 15,000 square metres.
His playfully portrayed figures reveal little of the challenge this project presented to the artist and everyone else involved. Each uneven or distorted surface of the building’s cladding had to be electronically measured before Berlin’s
"Stadtplanung+Architektur" Working Party was able to translate Gustavo's figures into three-dimensional pictures.
The colourful, almost organically flowing contours of Gustavo’s figures posed an equally demanding challenge. They had to run across the building as smoothly as possible, which meant that cutting wastage and joints had to be reduced to the minimum. This project would have been impossible without Alucobond®.
Computer-controlled cutting and milling was used to form some 11,000 pieces of this vast jigsaw puzzle, in twelve different colours. To create the perfect complement for Alucobond® cladding, the Henke construction company, which was responsible for the facade, developed a new substructure that allowed horizontal and vertical attachment of individual pieces, at any point the artist chose.
When exploiting the full range of the artist's palette for enhanced architectural impact, as here, the technical possibilities offered by Beckers' mixing systems are invaluable.
The project attracted considerable attention and was widely acclaimed. Quite apart from enchanting the residents of the block’s 296 flats, Gustavo’s figures have given the entire district a new image, pride and status.
Released: September 2006