"Art needs people who support and understand it. And there are many of them in Düsseldorf."

Friends Philipp Bilke and Micky Damm studied sculpture and architecture at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 2018, they founded Studio Baukunst together with Karl-Heinz Petzinka, their former professor and the former rector of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Supported by around 15 employees, the trio is now pursuing its goal of enriching Düsseldorf with extraordinary places, preserving existing buildings, marrying art and architecture and developing buildings with their own identity. Their new headquarters on the corner of Oberbilker Allee and Ringelsweide is a good example of what this can look like. There, the studio has transformed a former DIY store site into an eclectic, architecturally diverse space. In this interview, co-founders Bilke and Damm reveal why Düsseldorf has become their adopted home and what commissions they have recently been able to land.

You recently moved into your new studio, a former DIY store that you converted yourselves. How did this come about and what ideas did you want to realize?
Micky: We looked at the entire area in terms of urban planning. What buildings do we have here and what can we do with them? For example, the former administration building, which we call the "Little Villa", had load reserves - there was the possibility of adding storeys. This was the prerequisite for the greenhouse that we put on top of the building. For the former DIY store halls, we are planning to extend the existing structure using lightweight timber construction in order to retain as much of the original building fabric as possible. The result is something new that would not be planned as a new building. Preserving the existing structure usually results in much more interesting spaces.

Philipp: We want to give the houses their own identities. The "small villa" and the so-called Rondell are two completely different buildings. We found the traffic circle as a ruin and retained this character. We gave the villa right next door the natural stone façade it originally had and added the glass greenhouse.

Artists and architects work together on your projects. How did this constellation come about and what is special about your way of working, also as former students of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf?
Philipp: We are interested in analyzing the existing building and teasing out the existing qualities. Based on this, we think further: How can we give the building a new identity? How can we adapt it to current requirements? We also try to incorporate art into every project because we see art as an enrichment. However, we are less in favor of classical art on buildings. We prefer to integrate the works of art into the buildings and interweave them with them. As in the case of the natural stone façade of the "small villa", to which the sculptor Joscha Bender contributed ears of corn in the window embrasures (see photo below).

Micky: If architecture only ever makes use of architecture, then the result often looks the same. But when influences from another discipline are added, something new inevitably emerges. Why shouldn't architecture make use of biology or philosophy?

What is your most exciting project at the moment?
Philipp: We are currently renovating the state chancellery on the banks of the Rhine. We are also building a wooden structure with the character of a barn on top of the existing halls on the site, which will house apartments. This creates an exciting urban ensemble: on one side this large barn gable, on the other side the greenhouse and in between the flat, single-storey street corner with the traffic circle.

You have designed the houses in an inner courtyard on Oststraße in an unusual way. You are surprised when you enter the courtyard.
Micky: We didn't want to build the next random square meter there either, but rather give the place a character. That's why we clad the houses with different colored clinker bricks and convinced the client to have a pattern worked into the clinker brick façade. The floor of the inner courtyard is not asphalted, but also laid in a herringbone pattern.
Philipp: Many of the measures are "anyway" measures. We had to renovate the house, we had to insulate it. We don't even need to talk about energy-efficient refurbishment alone. That's a matter of course these days. For us, it's about the sustainable added value beyond that. If we have to insulate anyway and we clinker brick the façade, then all we have to do is convince the client to invest a little more money in laying the pattern. Laying the pattern hardly costs any more than if you had done without it, but in return I get a unique façade. In our eyes, that's great added value.

What locational advantage do you see in Düsseldorf?
Micky: I think the city is totally cool. It's a village in some respects. I can cycle from the airport to the Medienhafen in 20 minutes. Nevertheless, there is a mindset of thinking big. That's good for the city. I also like the juxtaposition of different people and lifestyles. It's always wonderful to observe this at the opening events at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. The art-loving ladies with the big hats sit in the auditorium next to the artists in ripped jeans. Isn't it great that this coexistence exists? Art needs people who support and understand it. And there are plenty of them in Düsseldorf.
Philipp: A plus that many Düsseldorfers take for granted: the city is flat and it's great for cycling.

What do you do in Düsseldorf when you want to switch off?
Philipp: Cycling in Rotthäuser Bachtal.
Micky: I've come to love Hubbelrath. You feel like you're somewhere in the Black Forest. The forests, the fields, it's so beautiful. I have another tip: cycle along the Düssel from its source in Gruiten to Düsseldorf. If you take it easy, it takes about two hours. It's a very beautiful route.

What places do you show friends who come to visit?
Micky: The church on Oststraße, whose windows have been covered in concrete. Colored glass was worked into the concrete. And that happened 60 years before Gerhard Richter's colored glass in the south transept of Cologne Cathedral. An incredible work and one of my architectural highlights.
Philipp: I definitely find the Japanese quarter around Immermannstraße special. Because this density of Japanese stores and restaurants is simply rare to find outside Japan.

Where do you go out?
Micky: As a father of four children, I've slowed down a bit when it comes to going out. But Chez Claude in Heerdt is an insider tip.
Philipp: Yes, they have incredibly tasty food and the atmosphere is great.

studiobaukunst.com

Tip

Another Studio Baukunst project is the Kultur-Schlachthof, where the street art exhibition "actsofpostvandalism2024" will be shown from November 8 to 17, 2024.

More information on Instagram @kulturschlachthof_ev.

Text: Ilona Marx
Photos: Markus Luigs