DDR- Nonstandard Buildings

Do the typical ingredients of Berlin, the "Berlin spirit", really exist? Brick, natural stone and concrete, combined with stucco, high ceilings with visible ceiling joists, plastic hard shell chairs, stools with cord seats, large-patterned wallpaper with dark brown and orange as the preferred colours, cast aluminium industrial spotlights, classicism combined with Wilhelminian and the Fifties and monolithic concrete blocks of flats, and then with a little dirt added.

Gregory Namberger smiles, he should know, because for the past ten years he and his partner Ingrid Buron have been working successfully as set designers. However, for both of them the above list lacks the human factor – without soul you can't achieve anything. Under their brand "namberger.buron.architecture" they create sets for films and commercials, supplemented by furniture design, marketing concepts and architectural projects. They provide their clients with all-round support, in the literal sense of the word, all the way from the selection of the site via the entire planning and building process right down to buying the appropriate wine glasses and seating. Ingrid Buron emphasises: "We place people in a setting."

From their loft office in the Kreuzberg district the pair have extended, converted and furnished large and small factory floors and old buildings into residential, office and events settings. What all their projects have in common is the meticulous and sensuous engagement with the space and the people who are to feel at home there. No ready-made, one-size-fits-all "trash à la Berlin" styling concept – what is noticeable instead is the principle of the collage, revealing different layers and new depths. The most heterogeneous elements tend to appear in unusual combinations, but their everyday use creates a feeling of coherence and harmony.

Namberger and Buron have now also carried the spirit of Berlin to South Germany and the Vosges mountains – with success, as follow-up orders have demonstrated.

At present the two designers are engaged on one of their favourite projects. On the island of Rügen they found a group of the legendary GDR architectural structures which Ulrich Muether built in 1973 using an experimental mixture of formwork and sprayed concrete. These buildings have not just been subjected to the ravages of sea water and winter cold, they also suffered from the senseless destruction which took place during the period immediately after German reunification. Namberger and Buron have turned the site into the set for a thriller, with all the gory details, right down to a blood-smeared corpse. However, now the buildings are to be restored as holiday accommodation, because even Berliners need to take time out occasionally. Instead of a shabby sprayed concrete shell, the breathtaking view they provide of the Baltic sea can be enjoyed more comfortably from a dark-brown imitation leather armchair.