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THE PHARMACY
Joost Meuwissen, architect
Amsterdam / Graz, 2005

As a first step, the pharmacy that once stood next to the Castle should be reconstructed. Only after that, we can contemplate a reconstruction of the Castle. Historically, the pharmacy was much more important than the Castle or the Asbestos in the Palace of the Republic.

As a second step, we can then begin to slowly reconstruct the Castle, level by level, over a period of several generations. The process of reconstruction is the actual event, a collective challenge, reminiscent of the construction of Gothic cathedrals.

The pharmacy will cut the disrupting traffic between Castle and the historic Pleasure Gardens (Lustgarten), which will be reconstructed according to the original 1828 plans of Schinkel and thus become a quiet place from which to observe the reconstruction process.

The Castle will be divided in six storeys. Every 30 years, a new generation is responsible to reconstruct one storey. In this way, the reconstruction will become an exemplary ritenuto, slowly unfolding itself, allowing for many unforeseeable possibilities of future generations.

The public focal point that bureaucrats always need to have is situated on the roof, the part of the building that is changing from generation to generation.

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