Bauakademie

The Bauakademie (English Building Academy) in Berlin, Germany, built between 1832 and 1836, is considered one of the forerunners of modern architecture due to its theretofore uncommon use of red brick and the relatively streamlined facade of the building.

Designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the Bauakademie was built near the Berliner Stadtschloss (Berlin City Palace) to house institutions such as the Oberbaudeputation, the Higher Council of Architecture, and the Königliche Technische Hochschule, the technical royal faculty, which will give birth in 1879 to the Technische Universität.

For nearly 50 years (1885-1933) the Bauakademie became the home of the „Königlich Preussische Messbild-Anstalt“ since 1921 renamed in „Staatliche Bildstelle“. This institution, under its director Albrecht Meydenbauer, became the world-wide first office, professionally working with photogrammetry, establishing an archive of historical buildings, based on photography. By 1920 approximately 20.000 glass-negatives of the format 30x30cm and 40x40cm had been collected in Germany and abroad.