Hacer la ciudad / Making the city

Designing the contemporary city means connecting the existing city, which often coincides with the historical city, and the shape and needs of the current city. The relationship between the ancient city and the contemporary urban fabric is analyzed considering Ungers’s project for Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (1996-2001) as a paradigm. Through these buildings, Ungers understands the meaning of the city, designs places and establishes new relationships and spatial organizations. Ungers’s attitude towards history, both through archeological data and historical urban pre-existences, is focused on the interpretation of the city as a palimpsest on which its structure grows layer upon layer, and develops according to a system of overlaps and conflicts. This building is significant when compared with the current architectural context, where there is a total absence of interest for the city and the history. It represents a paradigm to define a method that considers the relationship between city and design.