German ministry: Contract with Italian architect invalid

Berlin - Germany's cartel office has ruled that a contract signed with Italian architect Franco Stella to rebuild Berlin's royal palace is invalid, the construction ministry said on Friday. The ministry said it would go to court to appeal the decision, but ruled out a new competition over the design. Stella, a professor who favours classic buildings rebuilt as modern replicas, has been attacked by Berlin architects, who claimed he did not meet entrance qualifications to design the old-new palace. Construction of the new palace is due to begin in the autumn of 2010 and last until 2013. The ministry said the dispute would not delay the start of building work. The ministry said the cartel's office in charge of contract procedures respected the unanimous decision of the jury to award the contract to Stella. But it took issue on a procedural point, namely that others who took part in the competition were not informed in advance of the contract with the Italian. A German architect who came third had accused the jury of showing 'a lack of transparency' in awarding the contract. Stella's design for the reconstruction of the building razed by communist authorities in 1950 was chosen by judges from a short-list of 30 entries in November. Three out of four facades of the new palace, to be known as the Humboldt Forum, will be identical to those of the Kaisers' 18th- century palace, which stood on the site before the Second World War. A back wall and the interior will be new designs. A library and university lecture theatres will be inside, with the space and uses to be allocated this year. A Berlin magazine, Art, has quoted critics who allege Stella was not entitled to submit a design because he did not operate a large enough practice or have sufficient revenues before he won the plum contract. But a lawyer for Stella, Michael Pietzcker, said there was no truth to the allegations.