A: The filmic approach is built in your modus operandi–Atelier for Architecture and Scenography–and within that, how do you design spaces to facilitate conversations?

JH: If we are working in an existing space, first we clean it up and take all unnecessary layers off. Then we see the space empty–just its character and structure–where we can analyze the light. Where does it come in? What is this space telling us? From there, we start to work on the plan, the program, and the functions we have to integrate. It’s a process of 3D development similar to that of a sculptor and architect, really.

A: Is it important to retain the identity of the buildings on which you work? 

JH: Very much. We make the structure of the building totally visible. It's really working with the ceilings and with all components. I love how these construction methods tell the stories of the natural resources that were plentiful at the time, and also the goals of the government and the people building them. Here [Aeyde Haus], for example, it's very much working with the architecture and showing what exists already.

A: How did you translate a digital brand like Aeyde into the gallery-like physical space that is Aeyde Haus?

JH: People need spatial experience to feel the brand, which is why we always work with a special materiality. It never becomes a decorative approach. The colour of the space comes through the chosen materials. Every element and material we use functions architecturally in a space by reflecting light or extending views, or by installing islands in an architectural scale, resolving the circulation, or creating a kind of scenography. We are trying to understand and work with the existing architecture and make it visible. That's why I say we take everything off to see the structure. The idea was to show the volume, so we took out a lot of walls to make the space visible, as it was before. And then by doing this, we created the circulation by, for example, having a huge reception desk inside, which creates a diagonal line. It “circulates” you through the space and opens to reveal the light, almost channeling it. So, that was the remit behind Aeyde Haus. It's really about circulation and lighting, and when we create elements, we design them as part of our architectural language.

A: The scale of Karl-Marx-Allee and Aeyde Haus itself is definitely grand. How do these external proportions factor into the building itself?

JH: Karl-Marx Allee, originally Stalinallee, was representative of East Germany, of the former GDR, so they have this Stalinist architecture, which was prevalent in the Soviet Union. It’s not meant for the individual. It’s built on a superhuman scale with a six-lane road system. The building was for another use during another time. It was “Das Haus des Kindes," designed by Hermann Henselmann in 1953, as a children's department store and residential building, located at the entrance to the Stalinallee. It is a skyscraper with 12 floors. The building was a multi-functional building. You have to go up and see the flats because they are beautifully designed, they have this feeling of elevation—it has this feeling of New York. I used to live in Paris, and there, you know, you have the homogeneity of Haussmannian architecture. But in Berlin, you can really see from every building when it was built, what government it was built under, and what kind of ethos underpinned designated spaces.