Berlin's 3 Contextualist buildings demonstrate an approach that prioritises dialogue with surroundings over autonomous form. Sauerbruch Hutton's Berlin Metropolitan School weaves into its Mitte neighbourhood through scale, materiality, and colour — a Contemporary building that belongs to its block. David Chipperfield's James-Simon-Galerie mediates between Museum Island's neoclassical ensemble and the Spree with a colonnade of slender concrete columns that echo the proportions of Schinkel's Altes Museum.
Office ParkScheerbarth's Haus 2+ takes contextualism to the residential scale, responding to its immediate neighbours in height, setback, and material. In a city famous for architectural provocation, these buildings make the case for architecture that listens before it speaks.
