On 23 August 1946, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was founded with the state capital Düsseldorf. The state of NRW will celebrate its 75th anniversary from 27 August 2021 to 23 May 2022 with an anniversary exhibition “Our State. 75 Years of North Rhine-Westphalia” in the “Behrensbau” on the banks of the Rhine in Düsseldorf.

Eller + Eller Architekten were commissioned with the conversion planning of the Behrens Building in order to prepare the listed building to host the anniversary exhibition. The planning services began in spring 2020 with a feasibility study for revitalisation, including an analysis of the existing situation and a presentation of the potential. The subsequent approval and implementation planning was followed by deconstruction work in December 2020 and the conversion measures from January 2021. The building thus renovated now forms the setting for the anniversary exhibition planned by the Berlin office gewerkdesign.