design for a contemporary orangery for architekten ZLS, with siegfried miedl, text: heiko daniels, illustration: tim dinter

In the approximately five hundred year history of the orangery, architects and landscape designers have been confronted with a vast number of tasks arising from the specific requirements of their clients and the fashion of their time. The functions of the orangery have ranged from the simple greenhouse all the way to a ballroom, a parlour or a secluded retreat providing an intimate place for dreams, encounters or contemplation. At the zenith of this development, all these functions were combined. In the orangery, one can indulge one’s interest in collections of naturalia (natural things), artificialia (artistic things) and antiquitas (things from ancient times). Here one can broaden one’s insights into and comprehension of the world, dreaming of an imagined world in all its diversity, inspired by the exhibits. In this environment one can discover one’s own reality anew; transcending it through staged encounters with the human, the artistic and the natural. A contemporary orangery must fulfill these criteria exactly, creating a space that seduces its visitors into entangled conversations and provides them with tangible insights into nature and art.