The influence of Hans Scharoun

In connection with the Scharoun Exhibition held at the RIBA last February, Peter Blundell Jones and Nasser Golzari organised a one-day symposium about Scharoun and his influence. Among the invited speakers were Friedrich Mebes, whose contribution we published in the first issue of arq, and Günter Behnisch, the leader of the most distinguished German firm that could be said to follow the Scharounian spirit today. Behnisch & Partners first rose to world fame with the Munich Olympic buildings of 1972, but it has gone on to complete such prestigious works as the new Bonn Parliament, the Frankfurt Post-museum and the University Library in Eichstätt. Behnisch was invited to speculate on his relationship with Scharoun, and more generally on the master's influence in Germany today.