SQUARED
I ended my European vacation perfectly, in Berlin, with a visit to
Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s
Neuer Pavillon
at the
Schloss Charlottenburg. This small villa, set a five-minute walk from
the palace, was built for
King Friedrich Wilhelm III
in 1824 as a private retreat. I had visited once before, more than
twenty years ago, in the fall, and photographed its handsome neoclassial
exterior against bare trees. The building has since been fully
restored and reopened in 2011 as a museum devoted to Schinkel and his work.
The
building has a nine-square plan, with a staircase at its center leading
to a second floor. As one steps into the front vestibule this geometric order
becomes perfectly clear.
Each square is a single room and each room is generously proportioned, so that a group of three or four
can sit inside comfortably.
The interiors, which were restored to their original finishes, are
surprisingly opulent. Each corner room has its own strong signature
color scheme, with coordinating draperies and upholstery. One chamber is
blood red, one sky blue, and one mint green. And each one is furnished with
period-appropriate display cases, chairs and tables, in dark polished wood. (None of them are as refined as the chairs Schinkel himself designed, which are displayed in a gallery on the second floor.)
This supremely
traditional building feels, somehow, coolly modern. Its nine-square
organization provides logical structure and circulation while allowing
each room to maintain its own identity, creating drama as
one moves from one to the next.
One is delighted to walk all the way around a floor and then once again.
The building’s exterior, as taut as a drum, is cleanly organized, with high narrow
openings that don’t disrupt the integrity of the single volume. This
building, rigorous in plan and modest in its facades, opens up to
generous accommodations. It’s a lesson in the richness and complexity
possible within geometric restraint.
Photograph © Nalina Moses.