Gerhart Hauptmann (1862 – 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature 1912. Hauptman lived at the Villa Lassen in Erkner to the southeast of Berlin between the years 1886 and 1889. In 2021 Henchion Reuter Architects were placed fourth in a design competition to develop an extension to the existing villa to house a museum, library and conference spaces dedicated to Hauptmann’s legacy.