This House

Berlin Six | Auf Wiedersehen

Here are the last few offerings of photo documentation from Berlin.  The city was abound with facades of every color and political proclamation, including the declaration above which translates to "This House Previously Stood in a Different Country", referencing the Berlin Wall.  Other punctuations in the facade narrative were not so politically charged and made statements through color and mural.  However, an old squat tenement found in former East Berlin had the words "Soldiers are Murderers" emblazoned on its facade, only steps away from a military cemetery.  Even buildings that are charged with such history as the Reichstag have taken on a new persona.  Once used for propaganda purposes in World War II, Germany's parliament building now emphasizes the transparency of government and accessibility to its people by means of Sir Norman Foster's glass dome addition.  Whether transparency in the parliamentary government is actually true is yet to be determined...  

Until next time, auf wiedersehen Berlin!

In Memoriam

Berlin Five | Eisenman + Libeskind

The following images are of The Holocaust Memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) by Peter Eisenman and The Jewish Museum of Berlin by Daniel Libeskind.  Eisenman's project employs a field of concrete columns at different heights across an undulating ground condition to create a haunting labyrinth in which one is completely consumed by the columnar landscape.  Libeskind's museum, on the other hand, uses a serpentine building with pierced "voids" to articulate the emotion and experience of the Jewish people.  Neither space can be summed in words or images, but rather is an experience one must have.  Acknowledging the tension between Berlin's, and Europe's, violent past and hopeful future, the memorials convey different articulations of the Jewish experience through an architectural language.

Atelier Katharina Große

Berlin Three | Atelier Katharina Große

One of the keystone projects of the Spring 2012 semester was a case study in the city of Berlin.  My partners and I chose the private residence/studio of artist Katharina Große, designed by augustin und frank architekten, completed in 2007.  The building anchors the corner of an historic industrial neighborhood, and is surrounded by established Prussian brick buildings.  The site was once occupied by a tailor shop, on which the current building's foundation now rests; while the atelier itself hovers over the remaining exterior brick wall of the shop that stood there before.  

While in Berlin we were able to make a site visit to the building that we had spent weeks modeling at 1:50 scale (photos after the break) and see it in its full glory.  And my how glorious she was.  Not only were we able to get a much more intimate viewing of the building we had studied so deeply; but we were also fortunate enough to meet Katharina Große herself!  Unfortunately, we were not able to take a tour of the building, but she was gracious enough to come to the door and politely turn down our request. 

Click through for more photos

A House for All

Berlin Two | Nordic Embassies

Designed by Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen, the Felleshus/Pan Nordic Building was completed in 1999 and houses the embassies of Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden.  Felleshus in Danish translates to a house for all, apropos for a building harmoniously connecting the delegations of the Nordic region.  The embassies' spatial arrangement is consistent with their geographical positions, all of which are contained within the serpentine copper wall which surrounds them.  The entrance facade of the building is a composition of maple and glass, which opens to reveal an interior of concrete and glass details.  The Nordic Embassies are are a rich space of texture and light, and among the more intriguing spaces to explore in Berlin.

Click through for more photographs of the Pan Nordic Building.

Interbau '57

Berlin One  | Hansaviertel IBA '57

Boldly responding to the socialist developments of the GDR and East Germany, West Germany celebrated democracy and modernity through the International Building Exhibition Interbau.  Opening July, 1957, the IBA brought together world renowned architects for housing in the Hansaviertel neighborhood; which was nearly destroyed during World War II.  With designs from Oscar Niemeyer (above), Fritz Jaenecke and Sten Samuelson, Alvar Aalto, and more; Hansaviertel became a destination for over one million visitors.  With a chairlift meandering through the projects, the IBA was a spectacle of the modernization of the west.  

More photos of the Oscar Niemeyer project after the break, as well as projects by Jaenecke, Samuelson, and Aalto.