University of Massachusetts Amherst

From the SelectedWorks of Annaliese Bischoff

Fall 1993

The nbuiU lt Prinz-Albrecht-Palais Competition Annaliese Bischoff

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/annaliese_bischoff/11/

Review Reviewed Work(s): GERMANY: DESIGN The Unbuilt Prinz-Albrecht-Palais Competition by Review by: Annaliese Bischoff Source: Landscape Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Fall 1993), pp. 215-222 Published by: University of Wisconsin Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43324106 Accessed: 06-01-2020 16:39 UTC

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This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms media, to be more ecologically respon- sible. But, because I am one of those people who like intervening, I have been struggling with the relationship of ecological parameters to form making. From this struggle comes my interest in the rough and refined - the dialectic based in the sublime and the beautiful. But where does our profession sit, poised to be part of the future? The current German model as I experienced it is not the solution. They have embraced ecology at the expense of design intervention. We need both. I was especially struck by the lack of design theory in the university programs. I personally do not sepa- rate the processes of decision making between scales. In other words, envi- ronmental and regional planners (who may work at 1 :50,000) require the same basic understanding of landscape theory as does the urban designer (who may work at 1:50). And vice versa. It is perhaps the separa- tion and "streaming" of these two Figure 1. Site location within the district of in Berlin. aspects of landscape architecture that is detrimental to what our profession offers. Graduates of most planning schools in Canada can offer little ex- Weizsäcker, announced an open com- Notes: perience and knowledge about physi- petition for the former Prinz-Albrecht- Palais site in Berlin's district of Kreuz- cal planning. Landscape architects, 1 . Cordula Reisch Loidl, Der Hang zur Verwil- derung (Vienna: Picus Verlag, 1986). on the other hand, find their exper- berg in an area known as southern 2. Daniel Libeskind, "The Visible in the Invisi- (Figure 1) on a 6.2- tise in "site," "landscape," and "phys- ble," in Wunden Braunkohlebrachen zwischen Woer- ical reality." litz und Bitterfeld, edited by Wehberg, Hinnerk, hectare (or 15.5-acre) site adjacent to There is the perennial problem Weisbach, and Rainer (Braunschweig: Tech- the Wall. The competition sponsored nische Universitaet, 1991). of trying to do too much in any pro- by the mayor would be executed by 3. Libeskind, p. 25. the Internationale Bauausteilung fessional education program. And of 4. Libeskind, p. 26. course there is much divergence of 5. Patrick M. Condon, and Patrick F. Mooney, (IBA), the International Building opinion on what is "core" to a land- in program-planning documents for the U.B.C. Exhibition. With the target year of scape architect's education and prac- Landscape Architecture Program, 1992. the "Fest," 1987, Berlin's 750th an- tice. It does seem, however, that a niversary, IBA was already launching a monumental effort to demonstrate • strong link must be made between Moura Quayle is Associate Professor, the "sustainability of form" and the Landscape Architecture Program , Univer- the livability of the city through 6,000 "form of sustainability."5 Somehow sity of British Columbia , Vancouver, British new and rehabilitated dwelling units our teaching and practice must begin Columbia, Canada. designed by selected international to better integrate these concepts. and local professionals. The approach of IBA was twofold: first, to relate ar- GERMANY: DESIGN The Unbuilt chitecture (past, present, and future) to the existing city and, second, to Prinz-Albrecht-Palais Competition, Berlin: Results to Remember celebrate the "polycentric" nature of Berlin, with an emphasis on the char- Annaliese Bischoff acter of each area. Southern Frie- drichstadt was one area particularly Introduction and Context in need; Davey and Clelland (1987) have described this area as the "long strip of bombed and brutalized (by In mayor mayor June of ofBerlin, of Berlin, Richard 1983 von the Richard reigning von later planning) inner urban territory

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This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms and symmetrical formal baroque- style grounds. Lenné proposed an asymmetrical scheme with curvilinear walkways for strolling in an English landscape style. The landscape archi- tect Günther Harri (1984) has de- scribed this garden park in its genre as one of Lenné's best. Also of signifi- cance to the built environment is the Kunstgewerbemuseum, the Industrial Arts Museum, or the Gropiusbau, de- signed by Martin Gropius and Heino Schmieden (1877-1881). Of architec- tural interest is Otto Firle's 1924 pro- posal to renovate the Europahaus building to the west on the site in contrast to the way it was actually allowed to be completed in 1931. Firle's scheme had to meet 's approval with Hitler's mission (IBA 1983). This points to the real significance of this site. Despite the merits of its 19th and 20th century landscape architecture and architec- ture, the site's history is almost com- pletely overshadowed by its subse- quent occupation by the SS, the Gestapo, and the Security Service of the Third Reich (Figure 2). My point is not so much that the other works are insignificant, but that the unprec- edented horrors of Nazism render all Figure 2. Site plan showing the Gestapo occupation, 1935. normal criteria for comparison inap- propriate. So it seems critical to de- scribe the Nazi use of this site in cut off from the 'Stadtmitte,' by the ments will be described: (1) the sig- more detail. violent intrusion of the Wall." nificance of the site's history, (2) the From 1928 to 1931 the Reich However, the Prinz-Albrecht- precompetition efforts, (3) the com- government rented out the Prinz- Palais competition would be unlike petition results, (4) its aftermath, Albrecht-Palais as a place for its any other IBA executions, regardless and (5) recent thoughts. A personal guests. In 1932 Goebbels moved the of their district location. Many IBA critique of the competition, its results, editorial offices of the party paper, competitions and projects have been and significance will be offered in Der Angriff (the Assault), into 106 realized, including a new residential conclusion. Wilhelmstrasse. In 1933 the Geheime project across the street from the Staatspolizei (the Secret State Police), palais site. But the Prinz-Albrecht Histoňc Significance of the Site under Himmler, moved into the Kunst- competition results would never be The site is historically signifi- gewerbeschule (the Industrial Arts realized. Coming to terms with the cant because of its former palais, School) between the Gropiusbau and particular historic fabric on this site which Prince Albrecht commissioned the palais. In 1934 the palais became proved to be very controversial. Yet Karl Friedrich Schinkel to renovate the headquarters of the Sicherheits- this competition may well be one of (1830-1832). SchinkeFs main changes dienst (the Security Service) of the the most important in Germany in to the palais included an elegant SS (the Schutzstaffel or Protection this century. The purpose of this colonnade with two gateways connect- Squadron) under the command of paper is to acquaint a largely Ameri- ing the street front to the back gar- (Aronson 1962). can and Canadian professional audi- den. He also added a second story to In 1939 the palais housed the newly ence with this competition. In this the side wings of the palais (Sievers created Reichssicherheitshauptamt investigation, the history of the site 1954). Notable as well were the gar- (the Reich Security Main Office). and the competition will be reviewed. den park plans from 1830 and 1835 Ernst Kaltenbrunner resided here Through a study of original documents, from Peter Josef Lenné. His proposals until the end of the war. This was also extensive publications, site observa- doubled the size of the previous axial Adolf Eichmann's workplace. At this tion, and interviews with selected site, then, was a chilling concentra- competition participants, five ele- tion of power and terror. Here the

216 Landscape Journal

This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms plans were made, here the orders building-material firm processed rub- objectives of the competition were, were given for the systematic murder ble in the northeast portion of the first, to create a place of remem- of millions. Victims were brought to site. In the southeast the site was brance about the history of the site this site, detained, tortured, and then turned into an Autodrome, where and, second, to provide the residents most often murdered at other sites in those without a driving license could of Kreuzberg with a park (IBA 1985). the Konzentrationslager, specifically pay a small fee to drive madly along There were 493 requests for designed for mass annihilation. But makeshift dusty roadways. The site the competition materials. At a collo- many were also killed here. The lay in a derelict state, passed over by quium for the competition on August brutality and horrors of the SS, the the reconstruction boom, perhaps be- 19, 1983, the new intention of the Secret Police, and the Reich Security cause of its shameful history and sub- Senate to create a museum for Ger- have branded this site; its history is sequent marginal location. man history in the Gropiusbau be- like no other in Germany or Europe. came an issue for debate and con- The site takes on an international Precompetition Efforts troversy. The need for a museum to level of significance because of its Four key activities helped direct promote "active" participation was gruesome historic impact. . attention to this site in support of discussed, as opposed to the typically Much of this area was heavily a design competition for it. First, more passive nature of a museum. damaged by bomb attacks during the Dieter Hoffmann-Axthelm (1982), The organization Aktives Museum war. In 1949 the palais was torn down. an architectural historian, publicly Faschismus und Widerstand was In 1956 the ruins left at the site were called attention to the history of this founded in 1983 and lobbied for the blown up. In 1958 and 1959 more site during the TUNIX-Kongress, concept of an active museum, taking buildings were cleared away and the when he first proposed that it be in- a stand against Fascism. On Septem- site was leveled. The "anti-imperial- cluded in the IBA "Goals Catalogue." ber 14, 1983, an important discussion ist" Wall was erected in 1961, provid- Second, in 1980 the Interna- led by author Günter Grass at the ing a new northern boundary to the tional League for Human Rights Akademie der Künste continued the palais site. Throughout this process it made a proposal to Mayor Stobbe focus on the need for an active mu- is important to note that no artifacts that a memorial be erected at the seum, rather than a German history were salvaged and no historians were Prinz-Albrecht-Palais site to the vic- museum, as the Senate intended. consulted about any possible preser- tims of Fascismi At this time there By the competition deadline, vation issues. The works of Schinkel was an understandable flood of new 194 entries had been submitted. and Lenné at this site are preserved interest in memorials, exhibits, films, Many entries, influenced by the re- only in plans and photographs. and books, since it was forty and fifty cent discussions, incorporated the Throughout the postwar years the years after many important dates concept of an active museum. Solu- dark history of the National Socialist from the Nazi era. The airing of the tions varied widely, from the use of occupation of this site was progres- American television series "Holo- monuments, to the creation of ruins, sively erased, as if its history would caust" had a very powerful effect as to the development of symbols and also go away with the elimination of well (Geisert, Spielman, and Osten- metaphors, to leaving the site just as its buildings and grounds as evidence. dorft, 1988). it is now to document what had been Many have suggested that this ap- Third, attention was drawn to repressed for forty years. The entries proach represented a continuation the site because the Gropiusbau had were displayed for public viewing of a repression, a silence, a type of been renovated as an exhibit gallery. from March 12 to 25, 1984. A fifteen- denial (Geisert, Spielman, and Osten- In 1 98 1 an exhibit on Schinkel opened, member distinguished jury convened dorft 1988; Giordano 1987; Riirup followed by one called "Preussen" and for two sittings of intensive debate. In 1989). The absence of the buildings then "Zeitgeist" in 1982. April the jury chair, Eberhard Roters, and grounds, then, becomes just as Fourth, in October of 1982 the announced their decisions, with first important to understand as their for- Landschafts und Freiraumplanung prize awarded to Jürgen Wenzel and mer presence. Giordano discussed Institut at the Technische Universität Nikolaus Lang. Their scheme ad- Hitler and his era in terms of Ger- sponsored an intensive design investi- dressed the site in a way that no oth- many's "first guilt." The following gation on the historical identity of the ers did. The editor of Bauwelt com- forty years of silence and the inability palais site (Trillitzsch 1982). Partici- mented that this scheme was both to mourn he suggests as its "second pants were generally unsatisfied with the first and the last choice of the guilt." The lack of physical evidence their own proposals. They under- jury (Conrads 1984). It proposed a from the Nazi era, which was so si- scored the need to address the Nazi stark treatment to the site (Figure 3). lently cleaned up and removed in the history, rather than the more easily The ground would be sealed with cast postwar era, speaks to this second addressed heritage of Schinkel and iron relief plates in which thousands guilt. Lenné. of documents from the NS and SS The Gropiusbau and the Eu- occupation would be recreated; this ropahaus still stand on the site today. The Competition and Its Results would constitute the paving pattern Telephone offices were moved into In June of 1983 Mayor Weiz- upon which visitors would walk (Fig- the Europahaus; new parking lots säcker announced that the two main ure 4). As people were reading these were created for the employees on iron decrees of death on the ground, the palais site by the early 1980s. A they would be confronted with this

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This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Figure 3. Plan and perspective of the Wenzel and Lang proposal, 1984. Courtesy of Professor Wenzel.

218 Landscape Journal

This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Dutch Bekannimac doi FiMkrt»Q»ļnichi doi FiMkrt»Q»ļnichi wurdt« a I Ml Uliuni) | fá* wurdt« Konzept: * aAusqehcnd njiTÌlding^licht von der DimensionI Ml Uli | des®onna&enb verwalteten fruo Todes, E^t«««,.« «qgapfjgjflgL«1 ""**• lU Uhr fá* Tod« vanutaUt wettn Allentai gegen [wwviwu|» dcuiach« Wehtmochluinseh&rlge. Alle Inden VOnPto- £i!i^A«L"l'd»V«Sííň 9ûnn bCflillltl ber fiûinbf! 9ige Funktlonsbe8et2un9en' traditions- und trendor lent ler-

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■*• Ji ii*- « - «»* âes Ungei^ndes von Kastanienbaumen, im Raster gepflanzt. WSSS£àSS^EliBÌÌGB$sma&^ fū^*4tļļļ*,'^.r27n'i"^CMMrT *h**"1 Die s tad traumliche Identität des Blockes 3 wird akzentu- *to«fc i# «Wh tmbMiuu Mwi iert; der innere Raum der Platzgestalt wird durch den - n JfgLj j - 0*CHpoo _ Kastanienschirm konstituiert Und der Gropiusbau gerahmt.

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Figure 4. Examples of the inscriptions for the relief plates. Courtesy of Professor Wenzel.

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This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms tory of the SS as the administrative center of this site and of National So- cialism would be featured in a tempo- rary exhibit building, to be erected over the newly discovered canteen site. The area itself would be inter- preted through informational sign- boards placed at key site locations. An observational lookout would be created to give visitors an overview of the site. The exhibit was named "Topographie des Terrors" and opened in 1987 with more than half a million visitors that year. The Senate decided to extend the exhibit for an indefinite period (Figure 6). Figure 5. Detail of a model for the proposed site treatment, 1984. Courtesy of Professor Wenzel. Recent Thoughts In 1989 the "anti-imperialist" Wall began to crumble. In 1990 East and reunited. The sud- past. These plates would be displayed plans for a German history museum in the ground in the open air. Because for the Gropiusbau would go forwardden breakthrough of the Wall and the documentation would not be for the 750th-year celebration of in unity shocked the world with its hung in a standard museumlike man- 1987; he suggested that this speed.decision Berlin would be voted as the ner, it would be available to a broader, might put the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais new federal capital of Germany. At non-museum-going audience. A rigid plans in question. In December the Prinz-Albrecht-Palaisof site, preser- grid of chestnut trees would provide 1984 the mayor informed Wenzel vationists and have decided that a long stretch of the Wall at this site should a dense canopy to the site; the plant- Lang in a letter that their proposal ings would thus look deliberate and could no longer be realized. remain as a monument. For now, a not accidental (Figure 5). protective iron mesh wall has been erected on both sides of the Wall rem- Wenzel, a landscape architec- The Competition Aftermath ture professor at the Technische Uni- Following the mayor's letter, nant to protect it from any further versität, was inspired by Hoffmann- there was even more public concern destruction of tourist chipping; it is Axthelm's description of the site as over the site. In 1985 the Aktives an ironic sight. A cultural organiza- "scorched from any form of normal Museum organization made several tion, Stattreisen Berlin, features a tour of this site. Issues of the Senate's use" in the development of the "iron proposals to the Senate. Discussions skin" concept for the site (Milchert were featured on the radio, on televi- long-term planning inactivity for the 1984). For this reason the designers sion, and in newspapers. A concerned site are the key discussion feature. The site's future remains uncertain. decided to focus on a place of contem- citizens group, Initiative zum Umgang plation. They felt that the residents mit dem Gestapo-Gelände, formed in The competition itself has been of Kreuzberg could easily have a park December of 1985. In January of 1986 described as a "German tragedy," elsewhere in the district, but that the the Aktives Museum called for an ex- (IBA 1985), generally a failure and an history belonging to this site could cavation of the site in "Zum Umgang embarrassment (Endlich, Bauman, only be here. Lore Dit zen, a journal- mit der Erde" (Von Butler and and Frank 1988). An older man who ist and guest of the jury, wrote of the Endlich 1986). frequents the site offered the infor- mation that he had served in Hitler's competition: "Is the silence now to be In response to the strong public broken with an emphatic gesture in a interest, excavations and work for the youth corps. He seems repeatedly new form. . . . Can we come to terms preservation of the terrain at the site called back to this site by the force of with the past through symbols cre- were planned and carried out between the past. He emphatically stated that ated later through which we can sur- July and September of 1986. Frag- the exhibit rep- render our anxiety and incapacity?" ments emerged of building founda- resented only three-fourths of the documents and that the one-fourth (1984, p. 13). She was also struck by tions, boundary walls, cellars, and the inability of most entrants to ad- gate foundations. The former cells that were missing were the critical ones. Those that incriminated the dress the subject with any compe- of the Hausgefängnis (the house tency. Controversy and more discus- prison), which escaped the cleanup in "Täter," or the killers, were missing. sion followed the competition the 1950s and 1960s, were uncovered. The ones about the "Opfer," or the announcement. Rooms of a former kitchen and can- victims, were emphasized. He said In October of 1984 Mayor teen were discovered as well. An in- that it was Kohl who stopped the Diepgen surprisingly announced terim solutionthat was reached without competition. "They don't know how any permanent decision about the to begin with this site. Idiots." site's long-term use and design: a his-

220 Landscape Journal

This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms There is a sense that the termi- nation of the competition was a polit- ically motivated decision made be- hind closed doors; the real reasons may remain unknown. The winning scheme with its iron plate documen- taries would have emphasized the Täter, as well as the Opfer. The selec- tion of the scheme itself marks a breakthrough. But where the jury was ready to recognize this proposal, the politicians in charge could not sup- port an installation. So instead of the proposal to seal the ground, acknowl- edging the past, there were excava- tions to dig down into the earth, as if its artifacts could provide a new answer.

Personal Critique The Wenzel and Lang proposal seems provocative, compelling, pro- found, and brilliant. If it were Figure to6. A be view of the new exhibit building with the Martin-Gropius-Bau in the back- built, it would offer an innovatively ground, 1991. Photograph by author. appropriate response to a site that defies any norms, a site with strong international implications. attentionIt is a tosite the inanimate, objec- cisely because it won't be built, and whose occupation during Hitler's tively identified artifacts in an ap- we don't really know why. Second, we time, as well as its handling proach during that some might find distant, should remember this scheme, be- the postwar era, delivers powerful passive, and disturbingly cool. Al- yond its unfortunate fate, for its own and chilling lessons in history, though lessons the data are presented and merits, for its capable, provocative, that cannot be ignored. the subject of the site's history is and profound approach to addressing While part of the IBA' s openlyprogram revealed, the matter of com- an otherwise unaddressable past. It of adding new life to residential ing to terms with the past is evasively should not be forgotten, regardless of the uncertain future of the Prinz- neighborhoods takes shape sidestepped. across the Albrecht-Palais site. street, this site hangs in a suspended The brilliance and power of the state as a temporary exhibition Wenzel and and Lang proposal is that it an eyesore. The site objectively offers adis- means of coming to terms plays excavated artifacts, crudely with the past cov- in a possible way. Their ered by new roof structures scheme to ensurepromotes active participa- References protection. Signboards provide tion. Wenzel objec- and Lang had an under- tive information; what, where, standing when. for the needs of the visitors; Aronson, Schiomo. 1967. Heydrìch und die An- their proposal demonstrates a sensi- fange ded SD und der Gestapo (1931-1935). The message is that there is nothing Berlin: Freie Universität Dissertation. tivity and a capability of confronting to hide here, it's all out in the open, Clelland, Douglas, ed. 1 982. Postwar Berlin 25. at least the little that could be uncov- a difficult past. Certainly, the opening London: Architectural Design. of the Wall will be remembered as ered. A low-key building presents an Conrads, Ulrich. 1984. "Schorf aus Eisen," exhibition with reams of documents the major breakthrough of the Bauwelt , 21:873-882. decade (perhaps century) in Ger- Davey, Peter, and Douglas Clelland. 1987. hung on the walls of the former "Berlin Origins to IBA." Architectural kitchen building in a standard mu- many. But on another level, Wenzel Review , (April) :23- 28. seum style. The message seems to be and Lang's competition proposal of- Ditzen, Lore. 1984. "Kein Ort für einem that our books are open. The docu- fers an important breakthrough in Kranz," Süddeutsche Zeitung, (12 coming to terms with the past. This mai):13-15. mentation is comprehensive and Endlich, Stefanie, Leonie Baumann, and merits long-term recognition and carefully organized. A straightfor- Robert Frank. 1988. Zum Umgang mit dem ward inventory approach pervades appreciation. Gestapo-Gelände. Berlin: Gutachten im the whole site. Attention is focused The 1984 Prinz Albrecht-Palais Auftrag der Akademie der Künste. on the bricks and the foundations. competition continues to exert a pow- Geisert, Helmut, Jochen Spielman, and Peter erful influence well into the 1990s Ostendorft. 1988. Gedenken und Denkmal. The meaning of the place with this Berlin: Berlinische Galerie. type of interpretation is diluted; its with its haunting saga of not being Giordano, Ralph. 1987. Die zweite Schuld o. Von built. Its results should well be re- significance is diverted through the der Last Deutscher zu Sein. Hamburg: membered, and for two reasons. First, Rasch u. Röhring Verlag. we should remember the scheme pre-

Reports 221

This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Harri, Günther. 1984. Peter Joseph Lenné. Pots- Geländes des ehemaligen Prinz-Albrecht- Sievers, Johannes. 1954. Bauten ßir den Prinzen dam: Staatl. Schösser u. Garten. Palais. Berlin: Bauaustellung Berlin August Friedrich und Albrecht von Preussen. Hoffmann-Axthelm, Dieter. 1982. "Prinz- GMBH. Berlin: Deutschen Kunstverlag. Albrecht-Palais oder Reichssicherheit- Kiwus, Karin, ed. 1983. Discussion um den Martin- Trillitzsch, Falk, ed. 1982. Landschaftsplanung shauptamt. " Bauwelt, 43: 1 778-1 787. Gropius-Bau und das angrenzende Gelände, und geschichtliche Identität. Berlin: Tech- Hoffmann, Thomas. 1990. "Der Tod ist ein Dokumention. Berlin: Akademie der nische Universität. Meister aus Deutschland." Daidolos, Künste. Von Butler, Florian, and Stefanie Endlich. 1986. (Dezember): 100-106. Milchert, Jürgen. 1984. "Ein Platz nicht nur Synopse zum Umgang mit dem Gestapo- Internationale Bauausstellung Berlin (IBA). für Kreuzberg." Garten und Landschaft, Gelände. Berlin: Akademie der Künste. 1983. Dokumentation zum Gelände des ehe- (August) :29- 3 1. maligen Prinz-Albrecht-Palais und seine Rürup, Reinhard, ed. 1989. Topographie des Ter- Annaliese Bischoff is Associate Umgebung. Berlin: Bauausteilung Berlin rors. Berlin: Verlag Willmuth Arenhovel. GMBH. Professor of Landscape Architecture at the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Berlin, Südliche Friedrichstadt Gestaltung des Massachusetts, 01003

222 Landscape Journal

This content downloaded from 128.119.168.112 on Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:39:17 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms