Nikolas Weinstein

Architecture of motion

Nikolas Weinstein

Niko­las Wein­stein was born in New York City in 1968 and grew up in a fami­ly alre­a­dy stee­ped in the arts through his par­ents. His father was an archi­tect and his mother crea­ted sculp­tures. From an ear­ly age, he deve­lo­ped a fasci­na­ti­on for orga­nic, bio­mor­phic forms – a sen­si­bi­li­ty he shares with Frank O. Gehry. The floa­ting glass clouds he crea­ted for the DZ BANK Forum on Pari­ser Platz mark­ed a defi­ning col­la­bo­ra­ti­on for both artists and the begin­ning of Weinstein’s remar­kab­le inter­na­tio­nal care­er in sculp­tu­ral glass art. Pho­tos ©: Niko­las Wein­stein Stu­di­os, Robert Schlat­ter, AXICA 

Naturally connected at DZ BANK Berlin

Sculpture and architecture

For more than two deca­des, Niko­las Wein­stein has been explo­ring glass as a medi­um that enga­ges in direct dia­lo­gue with archi­tec­tu­re. Inspi­red by orga­nic struc­tures and natu­ral move­ments, his sculp­tures seem to grow out of the space – as ‘echo­es’ of the buil­ding its­elf, rea­li­sed in flu­id and ethe­re­al forms.

Light plays a cen­tral role in Weinstein’s work. As glass reacts more inten­se­ly to light than almost any other mate­ri­al, his sculp­tures are in con­stant flux with their sur­roun­dings – chan­ging their colour, depth and atmo­sphe­re throug­hout the day.

Inspi­red by natu­ral phe­no­me­na such as flowing water, honey­combs and ero­si­on, Wein­stein crea­tes instal­la­ti­ons that bring a sen­se of move­ment and vita­li­ty to the archi­tec­tu­re, as if “an invi­si­ble force had brought the archi­tec­tu­re to life and expres­sed its­elf in glass”.

Clouds of glass at Brandenburg Gate

Pariser Platz 3

The DZ BANK buil­ding on Pari­ser Platz, cha­rac­te­ri­sed by the inter­play of orga­nic and geo­me­tric forms, mate­ri­als, colours and light, is far more than just archi­tec­tu­re – it is an immersi­ve spa­ti­al expe­ri­ence. Situa­ted on one of Berlin’s most ico­nic public squa­res, it reflects both move­ment and sta­bi­li­ty, and thus sym­bo­li­ses the forces requi­red to shape the pre­sent and the future.

This dia­lo­gue is par­ti­cu­lar­ly evi­dent in Niko­las Weinstein’s floa­ting glass clouds, which cha­rac­te­ri­se the Forum, AXICA’s lar­gest event space. Deli­ca­te in appearance yet each weig­hing over 100 kilo­grams, the sculp­tures seem to float effort­less­ly in the space. The glass con­stant­ly reacts to day­light and arti­fi­ci­al light­ing, chan­ging throug­hout the day and thus crea­ting a very spe­cial atmo­sphe­re, par­ti­cu­lar­ly during evening events in the Forum.

Weinstein’s cloud instal­la­ti­on is more than just a design ele­ment: it extends Gehry’s bio­mor­phic archi­tec­tu­ral lan­guage to the space its­elf – and makes every event beneath the floa­ting glass sculp­tures a uni­que atmo­sphe­ric experience.

More than an event location: a place for encounters and inspiration

Whe­ther con­fe­rence rooms for deve­lo­ping big ide­as or mee­ting rooms with a view over the capi­tal: AXICA offers spaces for visi­on within Frank Gehry’s mas­ter­pie­ce – in striking harm­o­ny with Niko­las Weinstein’s sculp­tu­ral glass art.