Anna-Lindh-Schule, Berlin-Wedding
Realised - May 2026
Winning proposal for Art in Architecture Competition „ Neubau der Grundschule in der Reinickendorfer Straße, Berlin”- February 2024
Brushed Stainless Steel, Polycarbonate Sheets / Maximum Dimensions: 3.9 x 4 x 4.9 meters
Hardcover Children's Book / 22 Pages, A4
Digital Workbook and Illustrated Map of Wedding / Dimensions Vary
At the heart of the Mapquilt Tree – Stephanie Imbeau’s Kunst am Bau project for the elementary
school on Reinickendorfer Straße in Berlin-Wedding – are both a story and a sculpture. The latter
symbolizes a tree with a multi-layered steel stem balancing a translucent roof above the viewer’s
heads – a web of lines referencing the map of the Wedding district. Its nameless streets invite us to
project and imagine our local (hi-)stories on its surface.
The Mapquilt Tree is deeply rooted in traditions of collective making such as quilting and community
archiving, while reimagining these in the public domain. It questions conventional notions of
cartography and encompasses themes that have been long present in Imbeau's decade-long practice
such as belonging, shelter and material memory.
Its initial concept was based on a fairytale by Imbeau, which narrates how the Mapquilt Tree grew in
the Kiez of Wedding. This story now takes the shape of a children's book, illustrated by Joelle
Gebhardt. It is accompanied by a workbook, encouraging the children to share their experiences of
the district. In this sense the project is not a finished structure but an open-ended framework for
participation. The sculpture itself becomes a meeting point – thus, it not only describes a community,
but also helps to create one.
From Roots to Roof - on the Mapquilt Tree by Stephanie Imbeau
Lusin Reinsch & Cleo Wächter
:Production Partners
Joelle Gebhardt – Children’s Book Illustrator
Metallplus (Anton & Max Stillfried) – Fabrication and Installation
Laufs Engineering Design GmbH / Will Laufs – Structural Engineering
GSE Ingenieur-Gesellschaft mbH / Prof. Frank Prietz – Design Review Engineer
Denk und Punkt Engineering (Anna Stillfried) – Technical Drawings
Polycarbonate Sheets, Exolon® UV Opal – generously provided by Exolon Group NV