"All the way from Costa Rica, architect Bruno Stagno presents a monumental project that creates a romantic landscape. With his water garden –or Wassergarten– the architect filled the ancient Bauakademie Plaza with water, expanding the Spree. Towering above the water surface, a forest of trees grows in circular planters. The water flows through the first floor of the Academy, a loggia created by columns that taper until they meet a cycle of clouds with apertures for light. This idyllic space allows the citizens of Berlin to escape and come in contact with the natural elements. The project’s workshops and residences are located above this space." Comment made by the Jury of Berlin. “Commotion: Manhattan in Berlin. Voices soared even higher when authorities decided to reconstruct the building that Schinkel had destined to the Architecture Academy, returning it to its original structure. The magazine Die Zeit took advantage of the objections and summoned a ‘Counter-contest’ of ideas. Two hundred twenty-five architects drew up projects. The best ten made up a bouquet of imaginative urban planning. Disillusionment poses a ‘counter-building,’ a hole in the ground with neoclassic scenography. The Bruno Stagno project was among the ten selected. He is a Costa Rican architect now acquiring international reputation. He chose to surround the Academy with a lake filled with aquatic vegetation strongly reminiscent of tropical mangrove swamps. Behind this lake lies a robust, red Neo-Schinkelian building in which Stagno has preferred to highlight volume, featuring few openings on the façade and marked, precise arisses. This offers Berliners something more to talk about, since they are constant critics of their metropolis, a principal actor in 20th Century history.” Juan Bernal Ponce for La Nación, 1995.