Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis

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Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis

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  • Project Name: Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting
  • Student Name: Sava Kochorapov
  • Softwares/Plugins: SketchUp , Autodesk Revit , Adobe Photoshop , AutoCAD , Adobe Indesign , Enscape , Twinmotion , QGIS , Adobe Premiere Pro
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Excerpt: ‘Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting’ is an architecture thesis by Sava Kochorapov from the ‘Welsh School of Architecture – Cardiff University.’ The aim of the project is to transform the former GDR remand prison at Hohenschönhausen into a dynamic memorial that transcends static remembrance. Through architecture, performance, and dialogue, it preserves traumatic memory, resists nostalgic distortion, and reactivates the site as a cultural catalyst for civic engagement and future reflection.

Introduction: This project reimagines the former GDR remand prison—now the Hohenschönhausen Memorial—as a dynamic, propelling monument that transcends static remembrance to become a cultural and urban catalyst. Once hidden in plain sight, the site now stands as a powerful reminder of political oppression. While former prisoners currently lead tours, anchoring memory in personal testimony, their eventual absence raises critical questions: Can memory endure without its narrators? Can architecture itself preserve it through spatial storytelling and sensory experience?

The design introduces Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting—architectural interventions that activate Berlin as a figurative stage, transforming memory into performance, dialogue, and civic engagement. Inspired by Walter Benjamin’s reading of Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus, the project embodies the Angel of Memory: a witness to history caught between past and future. Through theatricality and interpretation, the memorial invites the public not only to reflect and confront Berlin’s traumatic layers but also to reimagine them—propelling memory forward rather than freezing it in time.

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Site Context

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Site Location relative to the city of Berlin’s city centre.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Overlayed historic plans over the existing. The brighter the colour, the more traumatic memories it holds for the victims. Such are the cells within the prisons, or slightly faded, the interrogation rooms.

The Hohenschönhausen remand prison is a site of intense political memory, where individuals accused of resisting the GDR regime were detained, tortured, and often sent to long-term imprisonment. As a counterpoint to Ostalgia—the nostalgic longing for a reimagined East Germany—this site confronts romanticized memories with the stark realities of state violence.

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Physical site model 1:500. CNC-cut plywood base with casted in plaster buildings.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Digital collage of the site’s timeline, illustrating the time from the opening of the Canteen, to the end of operations in the prison.

Originally built as a canteen during the area’s industrial expansion, it was repurposed by the First White Russian Front after World War II and, in the 1950s, taken over by the Stasi. Former prisoners were forced to construct the now-prominent U-shaped prison and interrogation block, while earlier detainees were held in the basement of the original canteen.

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Digital collages mapping the sensory and spatial imprints of trauma within the Hohenschönhausen prison. Left: An axonometric study of key sensory triggers – smells, sounds, light, textures – that former prisoners recall, revealing how everyday elements became instruments of psychological pressure. 
Right: A layered site plan mapping trauma within the building, with red marking the most memory-charged spaces and blue highlighting significant thresholds and movement paths.

The first step in this proposal was to map the locations where trauma is embedded, guiding a sensitive approach to memory and heritage. On-site research, survivor interviews, and personal testimonies revealed that memory often resides in thresholds—doors, windows, and transitional spaces charged with fear, waiting, and psychological pressure.

Design Process

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Drawings of initial Performance hall and Memorial iterations.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Drawing of proposed languages of Erasure (foreign materials, yet highlighted missing elements) and Preservation (complementary materials and new paths through the building).

The methodology draws from the dual acts of remembering and forgetting. The process began with two conceptual plans: one preserving only the traumatic fabric and one erasing it entirely. This exercise both revealed the building’s morphology and tested how it would perform under each extreme.

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Charcoal drawings mapping the architectural fabric to be retained or erased through selective demolition.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Charcoal drawings that represent intuitive responses to the fabric of forgetting and remembering.

From these emerged two parallel proposals exploring preservation—echoing the existing materiality—and erasure—introducing deliberate contrast. The design evolved from intuitive concepts, where programs either complemented or disrupted the original fabric, toward a hybrid approach weaving the two languages together.

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Charcoal early drawing iterations of how the site could perform as a stage, integrating an archival library and the memorial throughout.

The final scheme treats the site as a layered interplay of remembrance and forgetting. Theaters, a library, and a reimagined memorial act as transitional spaces, guiding visitors from areas steeped in memory to spaces of intentional absence. This journey is expressed through material shifts, subtle traces of the original structure, and an architectural language that carries both presence and loss.

Final Outcome

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Ground floor plan of the proposal, illustrating the stage of Remembering – set against the backdrop of the former remand prison – and the stage of Forgetting. The plan also features a library housing archival collections on GDR oppression and a reimagined memorial. Existing fabric is shown hatched in white, while new interventions are highlighted in orange.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Structural axonometric of the proposed library, showing the integration of new structural elements within the retained concrete shell. The diagram reveals the relationship between original load-bearing walls, new floor slabs, and roof structure, illustrating how the adaptive reuse strategy supports the library’s open interior while preserving the building’s historic fabric. | Isometric view of the library, highlighting artefact exhibition spaces, bookshelf joinery, and reading or study areas.

The final design integrates a memorial, library, and dual theaters within the existing structure, strategically demolishing non-trauma-related elements and marking their absence through contrasting materials.

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Axonometric plan of the second floor of the Library and views throughout. The white hatch shows the existing, and the proposed fabric is in orange.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
ibrary Views
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Axonometric plan of the second floor of the Memorial and views throughout. The white hatch shows the existing, and the proposed fabric is in blue.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Memorial Views

The memorial retains key spaces while introducing voids that create cross-views and layered narratives. Subtraction becomes a method of remembrance. The library, situated between the languages of remembering and forgetting, houses public archives and acts as a hinge space where both approaches intersect.

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Structural diagram of the theatre, illustrating its dual system: an external concrete frame for stability and an internal glulam timber structure supporting the roof. | Construction detail of the newly-built part of the theatre, showing the double skin façade, with concrete panels saved from demolitions on the exterior, and the glulam structure on the inside.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Axonometric plan of the first floor of the Theatre and views throughout. The white hatch shows existing, and the proposed fabric is in yellow.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Theatre of Forgetting Views

The two theaters embody the dialectic: one reinforces memory through continuity, while the other disrupts it, creating space for reinterpretation and cultural activation. The internal theatre’s newness provokes questions—what is missing, and what has been added?

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Worm’s-eye perspective views of key tectonic elements.
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Concrete panels salvaged from the interior are repurposed as external cladding, exposing hidden memories to the public realm. Debris from demolition is reused as aggregate in new concrete, fostering both social and environmental sustainability in the site’s future development.

Together, these interventions transform the memorial into a propelling monument, combining historical gravity with civic engagement. Reusing concrete panels from the interior as external cladding is both a sustainable act and an inversion of memory—exposing what was hidden and inviting broader public engagement with the site’s past.

Conclusion: By embedding the Angel of History’s transformation into the Angel of Memory, the project offers a model for memorialization that honors trauma, resists nostalgic stagnation, and remains relevant to future generations.

[This Academic Project has been published with text and images submitted by the student]

Site Context

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis

Design Process

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis

Final Outcome

Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis
Angel of Memory – Theatres of Remembering and Forgetting: Cultural Architecture as a Propelling Monument of Memory in Berlin | Architecture Thesis

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