Under Pressure

The exhibition takes the 125th anniversary of Ernst Neufert's birth as an opportunity to discuss themes such as simplicity and complexity, minimum standards and dimensions, material resources and material minimums in an interdisciplinary, diverse, and critical manner, and to reflect on a reassessment of the architectural legacy of postwar modernism in times of construction change.

Two buildings by Ernst Neufert are the focus of the exhibition, illustrating the tension between industrial modernism, ecological necessity, and cultural memory: the VDZ building in Düsseldorf and the Eternit factory in Heidelberg-Leimen. Both buildings are under pressure. Although they are listed as historical monuments, they are continuously being damaged, neglected, and are in a state of disrepair. Parallel to the material decay of the buildings, the evaluation of Ernst Neufert's work, the theory of building design, the foundations of standardization, and perspectives on concepts such as efficiency and optimization are also under pressure and are critically discussed. The multimedia installation, comprising a photo essay, film collage, and an object installation, invites viewers to explore the proportions of Neufert's octameter.

The exhibition is curated by Astrid Bornheim and is a collaboration between the BDA Gallery Berlin, the PBSA Peter Behrens School of Architecture | Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, and the Master's program AMM Architecture Media Management | Bochum University of Applied Sciences.

Opening: November 24, 2025, 7:30 p.m.