gmp · von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects
gmp · von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects
The architectural practice von Gerkan, Marg and Partners was founded by Meinhard von Gerkan and Volkwin Marg in 1965. Since its inception it has grown to include three additional partners, one partner for China, eleven associate partners and more than 500 employees in ten offices in Germany and abroad.
gmp is one of the few practices with a generalist position, which takes responsibility for a project from the design idea and its realization right through to the interior design.
Their architectural interpretation is characterized by the Vitruvian ideals of solidity, longevity and beauty. Based on the understanding, architecture earns the quality of sustainability in the sense of permanence, when not only the climatic conditions and the corresponding use of materials are accounted for, but also when the house, as an envelope for the diversity of human existence, is designed in an obvious manner. Above and beyond these demands, they build in different cultural circles in accordance with certified guidelines and in consultation with the client.
In the past 45 years Meinhard von Gerkan, Volkwin Marg and their partners have planned and constructed buildings in most major German cities. They have designed small scale homes, hotels, museums, theaters and concert halls, office buildings, commercial centers and hospitals as well as research, educational and sports facilities, buildings for transportation, trade and industry buildings and master plans.
gmp became internationally known as a team of airport architects when, in 1975, the Berlin-Tegel building with its drive-in airplane terminal for "stacked parking" was established. This innovative design has been further developed to transform the departure and arrival halls at Stuttgart and Hamburg airports.
They are internationally recognized not only for their projects like the New Trade Fair in Leipzig, the Rimini Exhibition Center or the Christ Pavilion for the EXPO 2000, but also for their designs. Key examples are the designs for the reconstruction and roofing of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin or Berlin Central Station, which was completed in 2006.
gmp has succeeded in winning more than 450 prizes in national and international competitions, among them more than 250 first prizes and a large number of awards for exemplary architecture. More than 300 buildings have been constructed by gmp worldwide.
Amongst others in China, the exhibition and congress centers in Nanning and Shenzhen, the Shanghai-Pudong museum and the Zhongguancun Cultural Center in Beijing as well as the Foshan Sports Park have been built. Further projects are the opera houses in Chongqing and Qingdao as well as the Chinese National Museum in Beijing.
In the year 2006 in Hanoi/Vietnam the National Congress Center was finished. The Museum for Urban History of Hanoi and the Headquarters of Ministry of Public and Security were realized in 2010.
In South Africa three World Cup stadiums, in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth were finished in 2009.
Von Gerkan, Marg and Partners have demonstrated town-planning competence with their visionary propos-als for "Stuttgart 21" for the Deutsche Bahn, HafenCity Hamburg, and the urban master plan of Bucharest/Romania, as well as many urban projects in China, including the planning of Lingang New City for 800,000 inhabitants.
Aside from Germany gmp is currently involved in projects in China, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Italy, Romania, Poland, the Ukraine and Latvia, to name but a few.
