Aedes Architecture Forum, a non-profit cultural institution in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district, opened in 1980 as Germany's first private architecture gallery. Kristin Feireiss and Helga Retzer launched it in a 40-square-meter space on Grolmanstrasse in Charlottenburg, amid Berlin's International Building Exhibition focusing on urban renewal. After Retzer's death in 1984, Feireiss partnered with Hans-Jürgen Commerell, who joined in 1993; Feireiss passed away in 2025. The forum relocated several times—to Stadtbahnbögen in 1989, Hackesche Höfe in 1995 as Aedes East, and Pfefferberg since 2006.
Over four decades, Aedes has hosted more than 600 exhibitions on architecture, urbanism, and society, featuring early works by Pritzker winners like Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, and Zaha Hadid. A 1988 show, "Berlin – Monument or Model?", gathered 82 architects including Daniel Libeskind ahead of the Wall's fall and toured Europe. In 2009, Commerell and Feireiss added the Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory for discussions on resilient cities, now directed by a six-partner team.
Recent projects include a 2023 exhibition on Atelier Deshaus transforming Shanghai industrial sites into public spaces, and a 2024 show of Hans Georg Esch's photographs reinterpreting Pompeii's ruins through a modern architectural lens. These events draw diverse visitors via talks, publications, and global networks, sustaining Aedes' role in architectural discourse. (218 words)