Starachitect Trio

Hamburg Elbphilharmonie    Herzog & de Meuron    DPA

There is a fascinating article, Starchitect Trio: The Men Behind Germany’s Building Debacles, in Spiegel’s Online International site where the German journal interviews three “star architects” working on projects in Germany. Each of them, Christoph Ingenhoven, Meinhard von Gerkan and Pierre de Meuron are working on major projects in Germany that experienced huge cost overruns.  The article is actually a group interview of the three architects by Spiegel and they go into quite a bit detail about the projects: the Stuttgart 21 Train station by Ingenhoven, the Berlin Branderburg International Airport by Gerkan, and the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall by de Meuron.  In a situation that is quite different than the architect’s role in the US, these architects also serve as the general contractor so there responsibilities for the costs are much more direct than for US architects.

Christoph Ingenhoven on cost overruns: "As general contractors, we are only...
Stuttgart 21 Train Station Ingenhoven DPA
Meinhard von Gerkan on the much-delayed Berlin Brandenburg Airport: "We're...
Berlin Brandenburg Airport Gerkan, Marg & Partners DPA

The costs of the projects also include components that are not part of the original scope of the projects.  Yet their attitude that lying may be a necessary part of getting these large projects to be undertaken is both quite straightforward and shocking.