The construction of any embassy is the result of complex negotiation processes. Far beyond their per se political function and use and the general connection between politics and architecture, new embassy buildings and projects have a high political symbolic power. They are the representatives of one nation to another that can be experienced with all the senses. Consequently, the architectural expression of a diplomatic representation is a relevant component of foreign policy; likewise, diplomacy and foreign policy form the basis for the architectural form.
Christiane Fülscher's book, published this June by Jovis Verlag, looks at new German embassy buildings and projects from the Reichsgründung 1871 to the Nachwendezeit. From their exterritorial positions, the buildings provide an expanded view of history and social self-image from the Kaiserreich to reunified Germany.
For more information, to register, and to link to the video, visit the CCSA website.
Christiane Fülscher studied architecture and art history. After working as an architect for many years, followed by academic work at the Institute for Architectural History at the University of Stuttgart, she currently teaches and researches at the Department of Architectural Theory and Science at the TU Darmstadt.
Monika Wagner taught as a professor of art history at the University of Hamburg from 1987 to 2010. Her research focuses on, among other things, the history and theory of perception and the significance of material in art and architecture in the 20th century.
Victoria von Gaudecker founded her first own architectural practice as early as 1997, which is now based in Munich. After teaching at the University of Stuttgart, the Technical University of Munich and the University of Applied Sciences Munich, she was appointed last year to the professorship for building theory and design at the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg.
