Presentations

Presentation at the KU Leuven: “Deutsche Botschaften. Zwischen Anpassung und Abgrenzung”

On Feb. 18, as part of a guest critique at KU Leuven, Campus Saint Lucas Ghent (Belgium), Christiane Fülscher will give a lecture in the Research Seminar “Transnational Building” on her book “Deutsche Botschaften. Zwischen Anpassung und Abgrenzung”. The initiative is part of the research group Architecture Interiority Inhabitation and the Scientific Research Community 'Texts & Buildings. Dissecting Transpositions in Architectural Knowledge (1880-1980)'.

Newly constructed embassies simultaneously convey prestige and establish a national identity. Their primary aim—to represent a state in a foreign country and reflect its societal self-image—turns them into political symbols. Over the past 150 years, Germany has consistently sought to express itself through the distinct architecture of its government buildings in other countries. In particular, the new diplomatic buildings constructed during the forty-year division between the GDR and FRG document the close relationship between political, cultural, and personal choices and their contexts. From their extraterritorial positions, the buildings offer an expanded view of history and self-conception. To this day, they continue to shape representative architecture abroad.