The news of the death of Hinrich Baller, one of the great architects of the past century, reached us with a delay. He was one of the few in the architectural world who devoted himself to the topic of integrating greenery into buildings from the very beginning of design. Due to his distance and implicit criticism of modernism, he was largely persona non grata in the German specialist media – unlike in Japan, France and others, for example. In addition, he cared absolutely not about networking and publicity. During the first one and a half decennia he shared his bureau with his wife Inken Baller with a great amount of result impressive buildings mainly in Berlin. As his main work we regard the Nuthe Estate in Potsdam, integrating an excellent urban design with green and water on a very difficult terrain with wonderful housing in the social sector.
The Biotope City Foundation documented this exemplary work – nota bene in social housing – years ago with a detailed article by him on the website of Biotope City Journal. I have invited him to lectures at the TU Eindhoven a few times – spectacularly he began his comprehensive lectures with a musical lecture on the grand piano on stage. He was also a great pianist and Instrument maker of baroque keyboard instruments.
https://biotope-city.net/gartenparadies-potsdam-nuthesiedlung/