DOCSLIB.ORG

People's Palace — Berlin

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
People's Palace — Berlin residence 01 Henselmann Tower 06 The couple’s bedroom Henselmann Tower 02 Mosaics in the foyer has plenty of light 03 Plaque of Wilhelm Pieck 07 Retro-style stereo 04 Constantin Thun in 08 Inside Molitor and his kitchen Thun’s flat 05 Marie-Christine Molitor and Thun PEOPLE’S PALACE — Berlin Preface 04 Karl-Marx-Allee was the most famous street in the GDR, lined with socialist- Tt 50 era ‘palaces of the workers’. These apartment blocks are now attracting a discerning crowd and fostering a creative community – and the Henselmann Tower is the big red star. writer Kimberly Bradley photographer Thomas Meyer 05 New Berliners often gasp the first time The residents 1 they see Karl-Marx-Allee, a boulevard tra- Marie-Christine versing what was once East Berlin, created Molitor and in the early 1950s to celebrate socialism. Constantin Thun Even 27 years after German unification, The couple waited six its monumental buildings unfold in a months to decide whether strange grandeur, one of a bygone utopia. to move into an 11th- It was in these Soviet-style socialist-realist floor apartment, which Zuckerbäckerstil (wedding-cake style) they’ve been renting since apartment buildings that Communist November. But they are thrilled with the decision party functionaries once lived. so far. “We can see all the Two symmetrical towers guard way to the Teufelsberg,” Strausberger Platz, a fountained round- says Thun, looking through about and the Allee’s western gateway. 01 06 the floor-to-ceiiing bedroom One of them, a 14-storey edifice at windows at what was once an Allied spy station on a number 19, has become an urban icon. hill in West Berlin. When it was completed in 1954 its cre- The couple, who ator, Hermann Henselmann, was chief work in the art world, architect of the German Democratic sits at a table made by Henselmann’s colleague Republic (gdr). The building was one Egon Eiermann; the work of the most desirable places to live in the surface in the galley gdr and it’s still hot property more than kitchen was originally 60 years later. Now, new and old resi- Henselmann’s desk. “The dents make up a creative community that apartment is old but there are so many things here reflects post-wall Berlin’s plurality. that are practical,” she Henselmann, known to be a proud, says, referring to a built- charismatic man, masterminded much in kitchen cabinet with of Karl-Marx-Allee (the street’s original perforations to keep food name was Stalinallee) and many of East and drinks cool. Both admit the surrounding area Berlin’s landmarks, including early drafts is a bit isolated, “but it of its ultimate icon: the ball-on-a-stick TV doesn’t matter”, says Thun. tower. But Strausberger Platz 19 was the “The neighbourhood is building he called home, as did his wife the building.” Irene and their eight children. 02 03 07 08 124 — issue 90 issue 90 — 125 residence The resident 2 01 ‘Texte zur Kunst’ office in Henselmann Tower Sabine Ofenbach the Henselmann Tower 02 Cuckoo clock in Texte zur Kunst (Texts the kitchen of ‘Texte on Art), a quarterly art- zur Kunst’ theory journal that has 03 Sabine Ofenbach, just celebrated its 25th managing director anniversary, has been 04 ‘Texte zur Kunst’ produced on the sixth headquarters floor of the Henselmann 05 Eva-Maria Steidel’s Tower since 2008. “There streamlined kitchen is a real community in 06 Slick bathroom the building; the mixture 07 Steidel’s minimalist style of people is exciting,” 08 Steidel has lived in the says Sabine Ofenbach, tower since 2009 the magazine’s managing director. The five-room apartment acts as the office Tt 50 and boasts comfortable, well-proportioned rooms, abundant natural light and typical Henselmann storage closets and shelving, as well as plenty of wall space for the art editions that are offered to subscribers and collectors. “It’s fantastic to work here,” says Ofenbach. “I especially love the sunsets in the evenings.” 01 05 06 Originally called “Haus des Kindes” The resident 3 (House of the Child), it lived up to its Eva-Maria Steidel name: the first two floors contained A Berlin resident since the a children’s department store (now a 1970s, Eva-Maria Steidel BoConcept furniture shop). There was The building was one of the was long intrigued by the also a children’s cinema and a puppet most desirable places to live in Henselmann Tower, which theatre and on the upper storeys there she likens to a lighthouse. the gdr; it’s still hot property Tt 50 Now the building is an overlooks Karl-Marx-Allee, was a kids’ café (alas closed in the 1970s; more than 60 years later important part of her life’s which she now uses as her later Stasi surveillance devices were work. The architecture own; only the bathroom found inside apartments that overlook connoisseur has lived was completely revamped. the 90-metre-wide Allee). Lucky resi- in Henselmann’s former She’s been pivotal in dents were selected in part via a special apartment since 2009; shaping the building’s her minimalist decorative community and has even lottery or their positions in the party. style, complete with applied to Unesco so that 02 The Henselmanns occupied two stately transparent furniture, Karl-Marx-Allee and its apartments on the seventh floor; one allows his architectural West Berlin counterpart, for the adults and an adjoining one for elements to serve as the Hansaviertel, might the kids. The building was dubbed the the main focal point. one day be recognised Tt 50 Steidel restored the as a dual heritage site. Henselmann Tower in 2005, which is apartment using old “When I come home I’m how many Berliners know it today. photographs, including extremely happy; I open From afar the tower (with its mirror Henselmann’s office that the door and just say, ‘Ah’.” twin Haus Berlin across the square) is a study in neoclassical proportions; Henselmann was inspired by his Prussian forerunner, architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Up close there is plenty of evi- dence of the building’s original mission: above the main colonnaded entrance is a quote from Goethe’s Faust that refers to free people on free land. Near another entrance is a plaque with the name of the gdr’s first president, Wilhelm Pieck. Inside in the foyer, mosaics depict happy families and scenes of Berlin. Two lifts speed up the building and even in the 03 04 07 08 126 — issue 90 issue 90 — 127 residence 01 Ingrid Roosen-Trinks has Henselmann Tower a diverse art collection 02 Thorsten Brinkmann art in the dining room 03 Helmut Trinks 04 Pierre Jorge Gonzalez’s apartment 05 Architecture firm Gonzalez Haase The residents 4 operates from the tower Ingrid Roosen-Trinks 06 Gonzalez and business and Helmut Trinks partner Judith Haase 07 Books in Gonzalez’s Ingrid Roosen-Trinks and apartment her husband, Helmut, first bought their apartment here 11 years ago. When 04 the original tenants moved out four years ago, Ingrid Tt 50 began a soft update. “When we renovated, we found all the wires that the Stasi had left,” she says. Now Ingrid fills the apartment with a portion 05 of her vast art collection. A microphone near the door, a conceptual piece by Berlin- based artist Jason Dodge, alludes to East German surveillance. Walls and floors are packed with works by artists such as Taryn Simon, 01 Olafur Eliasson, Jonathan Meese, Thorsten Brinkmann Steidel has been a quiet but diligent and Jorinde Voigt; furniture community-builder for the Henselmann is mostly mid-century. The couple switched the Tower, as well as other parts of the position of the kitchen and Karl-Marx-Allee ensemble, ever since, bedroom but retained many bringing in people from Berlin’s artistic of Henselmann’s original and creative scenes whenever a space details, such as the Bakelite 06 becomes free. Some apartments have door handles. There is a 1950s each unit had an intercom, cen- The residents 5 longtime tenants from before the Wende clear view from the living Pierre Jorge Gonzalez tral heating and each floor had a rubbish room that stretches along (the fall of the wall) but many others have chute that carried waste to a basement. Karl-Marx-Allee’s long axis; and Judith Haase been purchased or rented by film-mak- “From here you can see all ers, journalists, art collectors, German Upstairs most storeys have generous Architects Pierre Jorge landings and apartments have panelled the way to Moscow,” says pop stars, the Gonzalez Haase architec- Ingrid, smiling. Gonzalez and Judith Haase wooden doors. Units vary in size and divided a larger space into ture office, the offices of art-theory mag- layout but some features are univer- 02 an apartment for Gonzalez azine Texte zur Kunst and most recently sal. In front of floor-to-ceiling French often worked with her husband, making and an office where they the young art-world couple Constantin work with their team. This windows are curlicued metal railings by sure that God stayed in the details. was originally a commercial Thun and Marie-Christine Molitor, who sculptor Fritz Kuehn. The milky win- The Berlin Wall, of course, fell in space; the ceilings are moved into an 11th-floor, one-bed apart- dows in doors dividing adjoining rooms 1989. In the following 15 years or so the 4.7 metres high and there ment in 2015. have a diamond pattern that plays with buildings on Karl-Marx-Allee were sold are oversized windows.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Francesca Rogier
    The Other Parliam ent in th e Francesca Rogier 07 When the Reichstag, seat of the German parliament Fig. 1 Aerial view of the Palast and the surrounding area. The 190 m from 1889 to 1933, was re-dedicated as the new home long building, placed 180' to the for- mer palace footprint, marks a of the Bundestag last April, another parliament build- sequence of open spaces moving ing gazed vacantly from the foot of Unter east from Marx-Engels-Platz at the westward foot of Unter den Linden to the Marx- Engels-Forum, the 1 969 TV tower, den Linden. The Pa/ost (^er Re^wfaZ/fc, the monolith overlooking and Alexanderplatz. Wrapped in a Marx-Engels-Platz in the heart of Berlin that once housed the East marble base, the Palast's rear eleva- German Volkskammer, might as well have been worlds away, so tion makes contact with the Spree in a lateral walkway and boat landing, insignificant was its presence in the public's consciousness. But at pre- directly engaging the island site in a cisely that moment, a shift have taken place that could lead to a may manner unusual for modernist build- new perception and possible re-use of the forgotten parliament, just as mgs. Although plans for Marx- it could engender a new definition of German identity. Engels-Platz never progressed past the stage of parking lot, it has proven to be an excellent outdoor The greatest moment for the Palast der Republik came in August 1990, space for carnivals, performance art, when the first freely-elected representatives of the Volkskammer, a body volleyball matches, attracting large crowds - the kind of public previously subjugated to the central committee, voted for German unifi- entertain- ments so often promoted today in cation.
    [Show full text]
  • Festvortrag: Ohne Pracht, Ohne Macht?
    18 Festvortrag: Ohne Pracht, ohne Macht? Vladimír Šlapeta* Im Frühjahr 1944 nahte die letzte Phase des Zweiten Welt- krieges. Berlin wurde permanent bombardiert, und Hans Scharoun wurde für Räumungsarbeiten in Steglitz und in Lichterfelde eingesetzt. Schon vorher erlebte er die Bom- bardierung seiner Büros, zuerst in der Passauer Straße, danach am Bayerischen Platz, auch seine Wohnung in der Siemensstadt erlitt Schäden. Zufällig wirkte in dieser Zeit in Olmütz (tschechisch Olomouc) Scharouns Nach- bar aus der Siemensstadt, Rudolf Haase, der einige Mo- nate als Kurier den unzensierten Briefwechsel zwischen Scharoun und meinem Vater, seinem tschechischen Schü- ler, vermittelte. Als Geschenk schickte damals mein Vater Scharoun das Buch Prag in Fotos von Karel Plicka. Scha- roun war sichtlich erfreut und bedankte sich mit einem ausführlichen Brief, den er, wie er bitter vermerkte, im „Heldenkeller“ auf vergilbtem Papier mit Bleistift schrieb (Abb.1).1 Darin erklärte er das städtebauliche Phänomen Prags als Beispiel für eine „Stadt als Garten“ mit edlem Abb. 2: Hans Scharoun, Brief an Lubomír und Čestmír Šla- peta, 15.8.1944 Einklang der dramatischen Topographie, der Natur und der organisch gewachsenen Struktur. Er betonte auch das einheitliche geistige Klima Prags, das in bunter städtebau- licher Struktur das Gebaute überbrückt und verbindet. Das Beispiel Prags scheint ihm ideal für seine damals im Ent- stehen begriffenen Gedanken zu den fast märchenhaften „Stadtlandschaften“, die er in den Nächten skizzierte und auf deren Grundlage er sein sämtliches Spätwerk aufbaute. Im nächsten Brief, datiert am 15. August 1944 (Abb. 2) – gerade drei Wochen nach dem missglückten Attentat von Claus von Stauffenberg auf Adolf Hitler –, kann man le- sen, wie schnell er neue Energie sammelte in der Hoffnung auf ein baldiges Ende des Krieges und einen Neuanfang: „Meine Arbeit ist ein ewiger Kampf gegen Material und Arbeitermangel, aber vielleicht kann ich in Ihrem Büro einmal Wiederauferstehung feiern! Einmal wieder Räume schöpfen! Jetzt erschöpfen wir uns! Was hat eigentlich die Abb.
    [Show full text]
  • Shades of Goethe--And of Hitler: a History of [The Town Of] Weimar
    Michael H. Kater. Weimar: From Enlightenment to the Present. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014. Illustrations. 480 pp. $45.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-300-17056-6. Reviewed by Ulf Zimmermann Published on H-German (January, 2016) Commissioned by Nathan N. Orgill Michael H. Kater covers the terrain an‐ of the local Gymnasium, the only upper school in nounced in his subtitle in ten chapters, slicing the duchy and one that taught classical languages, Weimar’s history into periods unique to the city. and ends with the death of Johann Wolfgang von Thus he has, for example, a chapter specifically Goethe. Heintze’s appointment was immediately on the Weimar Bauhaus experiment, from 1919 to approved by Anna Amalia, who, as a niece of 1925, followed by a general one on the Weimar Frederick the Great and princess of Braun‐ Republic, from 1918 to 1933. In addition to a chap‐ schweig-Wolfenbüttel, had a taste for culture. She ter on the Third Reich, from 1933 to 1945, he in‐ was, for example, familiar with the work of cludes a separate one on the nearby concentra‐ Christoph Martin Wieland, then a professor of tion camp of Buchenwald, from 1937 to 1945. philosophy at Erfurt University who had just pub‐ In a brief prologue, Kater explains his motiva‐ lished The Golden Mirror (1772), a work whose tions for writing this book. As a child at his grand‐ pedagogical and political ideas on how a prospec‐ parents’ home in Germany he had heard much tive ruler should be brought up and rule seemed about a direct ancestor who was “a member of perfect for the more exclusive education of the fu‐ the circle of savants surrounding Dowager ture duke.
    [Show full text]
  • School of Architecture 2016–2017 School of Architecture School Of
    BULLETIN OF YALE UNIVERSITY BULLETIN OF YALE BULLETIN OF YALE UNIVERSITY Periodicals postage paid New Haven ct 06520-8227 New Haven, Connecticut School of Architecture 2016–2017 School of Architecture 2016 –2017 BULLETIN OF YALE UNIVERSITY Series 112 Number 4 June 30, 2016 BULLETIN OF YALE UNIVERSITY Series 112 Number 4 June 30, 2016 (USPS 078-500) The University is committed to basing judgments concerning the admission, education, is published seventeen times a year (one time in May and October; three times in June and employment of individuals upon their qualifications and abilities and a∞rmatively and September; four times in July; five times in August) by Yale University, 2 Whitney seeks to attract to its faculty, sta≠, and student body qualified persons of diverse back- Avenue, New Haven CT 0651o. Periodicals postage paid at New Haven, Connecticut. grounds. In accordance with this policy and as delineated by federal and Connecticut law, Yale does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment against Postmaster: Send address changes to Bulletin of Yale University, any individual on account of that individual’s sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, PO Box 208227, New Haven CT 06520-8227 status as a protected veteran, or national or ethnic origin; nor does Yale discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Managing Editor: Kimberly M. Go≠-Crews University policy is committed to a∞rmative action under law in employment of Editor: Lesley K. Baier women, minority group members, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans. PO Box 208230, New Haven CT 06520-8230 Inquiries concerning these policies may be referred to Valarie Stanley, Director of the O∞ce for Equal Opportunity Programs, 221 Whitney Avenue, 3rd Floor, 203.432.0849.
    [Show full text]
  • Henselmann (Siehe Beiträge Zu Wohnungsbau Und Stadtentwicklung in Berlin Iiiplen/Vorgang/D17-2811.Pdf)
    EDITORIAL Fast schien es so, als ob die Stadtdebatte zur Berliner Mitte mit den im Sommer 2016 vom Abgeordnetenhaus beschlossenen Bür- gerleitlinien ihre Erledigung gefunden hätte HENSELMANN (siehe www.parlament-berlin.de/ados/17/ BEITRÄGE ZU WOHNUNGSBAU UND StadtentwiCKLUNG IN BERLIN IIIPlen/vorgang/d17-2811.pdf). Viele fragten sich bereits, ob bzw. wann und wie es weiter- geht. Nun hat der neue rot-rot-grüne Senat von Berlin die Fortführung und Neuausrich- tung der Berliner Stadtdebatte beschlossen. Wir widmen daher unsere fünfte Ausgabe diesem Thema. Die Senatorin für Stadtentwicklung und Woh- 1/2017 nen Katrin Lompscher (DIE LINKE) erläutert uns einleitend den neuen Senatsbeschluss. Klaus Brake und Stefan Richter kommen- tieren die angekündigte Neuausrichtung der Stadtdebatte. Was Katrin Lompscher andeutet: Die Neuaufteilung der Senatsres- sorts macht die Lösung zentraler Fragen der Berliner Mitte nicht einfacher. Wir wollen einige dieser Fragen jetzt schon diskutie- ren: Thomas Flierl und Theresa Keilhacker gehen der Frage nach, ob die Zentral- und Landesbi bliothek in die Mitte der Stadt soll- te. Der Architekt Peter Meyer würdigt die den Stadtinnenraum prägenden Raumkanten, die beiden Großwohneinheiten an der Rathaus- und an der Karl-Liebknecht-Straße. Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper setzt die beiden umstrit- tenen Projekte, die Rekonstruktion der Bau- akademie Schinkels und die Errichtung des Freiheits- und Einheitsdenkmals („Wippe“), zueinander in Beziehung. Schließlich erör- tert Markus Wollina die Verkehrsfrage am Beispiel der Spandauer Straße. Der erweiterte Betrachtungsraum schafft Möglichkeiten, die Berliner Mitte stärker in ihrer Vernetzung mit der Umgebung und der Gesamtstadt zu diskutieren. Gleichzeitig geht es um Entscheidungen über die zukünf- tige Gestaltung. Wir bleiben dran! Übrigens: Ab 2018 wird „Henselmann“ mehr als einmal im Jahr erscheinen.
    [Show full text]
  • Architecture, Identity, and Migration in a Socialist Model City
    Yale University EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale Masters of Environmental Design Theses Yale School of Architecture 5-2020 Heimat im Wartezimmer: Architecture, Identity, and Migration in a Socialist Model City Holly Bushman Yale University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/envdesign Part of the Environmental Design Commons Recommended Citation Bushman, Holly, "Heimat im Wartezimmer: Architecture, Identity, and Migration in a Socialist Model City" (2020). Masters of Environmental Design Theses. 1. https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/envdesign/1 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Yale School of Architecture at EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters of Environmental Design Theses by an authorized administrator of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Heimat im Wartezimmer: Architecture, Identity, and Migration in a Socialist Model City Holly M. Anderson Bushman B.S. Bates College, 2016 A thesis submitted to the faculty of the Yale School of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Environmental Design Yale University May 2020 _________________________________________ Keller Easterling Principal Advisor and M.E.D. Program Chair _________________________________________ Elihu Rubin Reader Abstract: Eisenhüttenstadt, the first “socialist model city” designed and constructed in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), provides an opportunity to scrutinize the relationship between state conceptions of architectural design and national identity in the early 1950s. Known as Stalinstadt until 1961, the community was founded in eastern Brandenburg in 1950 as housing for workers at the nearby ironworks Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost “J.
    [Show full text]
  • “Indestructible Idea” of the Bauhaus and Its East German Reception
    FROM AN “ALIEN,HOSTILE PHENOMENON” TO THE “POETRY OF THE FUTURE”: ON THE BAUHAUS RECEPTION IN EAST GERMANY, 1945–70 Wolfgang Thöner The “Indestructible Idea” of the Bauhaus and its East German Reception The Bauhaus, the most influential modern design movement of the twen- tieth century, made its presence felt in East Germany (meaning the Soviet Zone of Occupation from 1945 to 1949 and, later, the German Democratic Republic) not only through its intellectual and material legacy, but also through the activities of former teachers and students from the school. The reaction to this legacy was always a politically charged affair in East Germany, linked with fundamental questions of culture, lifestyle, or, as it was called in the GDR, the socialist way of life.1 When one considers the legacy of the Bauhaus, particularly its adap- tation in different cultural contexts, it is important to distinguish the Bauhaus reception from the general reception of modern art.2 Through- out its existence, from 1919 through 1933, the Bauhaus considered itself part of an international avant-garde. Decades after the school was closed, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe spoke of the “indestructible idea” of the Bauhaus, without specifying whether this idea was more a question of style in the art-historical sense or, rather, one of lifestyle.3 The Bauhaus strove to shape the human environment comprehensively; in this regard, it was much more effective and complex than other institutions and movements concerned with design. It was a school which developed and applied new pedagogical methods; it was active in the fields of architec- ture, urban planning, landscape design, industrial design, and graphic design, as well as in the fine arts.
    [Show full text]
  • Karl-Marx-Allee Und Interbau 1957 Konfrontation, Konkurrenz Und Koevolution Im Geteilten Berlin
    Zwei deutsche Architekturen: Karl-Marx-Allee und Interbau 1957 Konfrontation, Konkurrenz und Koevolution im geteilten Berlin Übersichtsplan Gesamtberlin mit Verlauf der Mauer zwischen Ost- und West-Berlin Im Osten der Denkmalbereich der Bauten an der Karl-Marx-Allee, vormals Stalinallee Im Westen der Denkmalbereich der Bauten an der Interbau 1957 im Hansaviertel sowie außerhalb des Hansaviertels als solitäre Bauwerke Kongresshalle, seit 1989 Haus der Kulturen der Welt und Unité d'Habitation – Type Berlin Alle genannten Baudenkmale bzw. Denkmalbereiche sind seit der Wiedervereinigung 1990 eingetragene Positionen der Denkmalliste des Landes Berlin. Zeichnung 2012, K. Grünert, Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt Abbildungen zur KMK Meldung für den Vorschlag - Anlage 1/20 Zwei deutsche Architekturen: Karl-Marx-Allee und Interbau 1957 Konfrontation, Konkurrenz und Koevolution im geteilten Berlin Architektur und Städtebau in Konfrontation Karl-Marx-Allee und Interbau 1957 Die gesellschaftspolitische Konfrontation von Ost und West in Berlin fand nach der administrativen Teilung der Stadt 1948 ihren prägnanten Ausdruck durch zwei – politisch und ästhetisch – konkurrierende Städtebauprojekte. Karl-Marx-Allee In Ost-Berlin entstand Anfang der 1950er Jahre an der damaligen Stalinallee – in Abkehr vom «amerikanischen Kosmopolitismus» und als Hinwendung zum «Bauen in nationalen Traditionen» als «erste sozialistische Straße Deutschlands» – ein repräsentativer Boulevard mit Wohnpalästen, Läden und Kultureinrichtungen sowie mit markanten Torplätzen. Der ab 1959 errichtete zweite Teil dokumentiert die spätere Hinwendung zur Moderne. Interbau 1957 Der Westen regierte erst einige Jahre später auf diese Herausforderung, indem er demonstrativ im Rahmen einer internationalen Bauausstellung an die Moderne nach den Grundsätzen der Charta von Athen anknüpfte. So entstand im Hansaviertel eine offene durchgrünte Stadtlandschaft mit vielfältiger «demokratischer» Wohnbebauung, die klar «im Gegensatz zu diktatorisch ausgerichteten Bauten» stehen sollte.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Cincinnati
    UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Competing Cityscapes: Architecture in the Cinematic Images of Postwar Berlin A Thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE In the School of Architecture and Interior Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning 2007 by Laura Terézia Vas BA in German and History, University of Szeged, 1999 MA in German, University of Cincinnati, 2001 ABD in German Studies, University of Cincinnati, 2004 Committee Chair: Udo Greinacher Committee Members: Todd Herzog Aarati Kanekar ABSTRACT The architecture depicted in films about Berlin has played a fundamental role in fashioning the divided and unified capital’s image and cultural self-understanding, for both sides were acutely conscious of the propagandistic function of urban and architectural planning. By comparing three East-Berlin films with three thematically and chronologically corresponding West-Berlin films, this thesis investigates how cinema corresponded to the changing concepts in modernist architecture on the two sides of the wall. Whereas a competition between two world powers is carried out on a semiotic field condensing cultural, social, technological, and economic achievements - the city - this thesis shows that the diverging styles of government were struggling with similar possibilities and limitations in shaping their sections of Berlin. As opposed to Cold War films, the spatial analyses of post-Wende films show striking divergences.
    [Show full text]
  • Project 4 Neues Bauen
    Neues Bauen: The Politics of Housing in the Post-War Berlins Berlin offers multiple, unique opportunities to think about the politics of the built environment, from the overt demonstrations of power at the Schlossplatz to the subtler displays of the Kurfürstendamm. As part of our course, we will also visit sites of everyday residence and consider the politicization of housing across the different eras of Berlin's political and economic development. This project will allow a closer focus on the politics of housing for those interested in examining how three different Republican contexts shaped the built environment Berliners called home. At the end of both world wars, new republics faced daunting housing crises in Berlin. The Weimar Republic faced a housing shortage that pre-dated World War One and was exacerbated by the lack of investment in domestic infrastructure of the period 1914-1918. The priorities of the new state included “building anew” (neues Bauen) in both structural and conceptual ways, and housing the working class was a significant political and economic project for the new state. Modernist architects brought their vision to bear on "the dwelling for the common man," producing a variety of settlements in and around Berlin (at least one of which we will visit as a whole class group). After World War Two, the devastation of housing stock in Berlin presented an immediate challenge to the occupation authorities and later to the governments that replaced them and established Berlin as a focal point of the Cold War. Housing was doubly politicized on both sides of the East-West divide, as the new regimes sought legitimation from their own citizens and the wider world.
    [Show full text]
  • In Seiner Berliner Zeit Der Architekt Die Macht Und Die
    AUS ANLAS S SEINES 110. GEBURTSTAGES IN SEINER DER ARCHITEKT BERLINER ZEIT DIE MACHT UND 1949 –1995 DIE BAUKUNST HERMANN HENSELMANN 11. HERMAN N 14 .FEBRUAR 2015 bcc BERLIN CONGRESS CENTER HENSELMAN N ALEXANDERSTRASSE 11 · 10178 BERLIN KOLLOQUI UM HERMAN N HENSELMANN STIFTUNG AUS ANLAS S SEINES 14. FEBRUAR 2015 — 10 BIS 19 UHR 110. GEBURTSTAGES P10R.0O0G TRhAoMmaM s Flierl: Begrüßung 10.10 Jörg Haspel (Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwel t/Landesdenkmalamt): Grußwort IN SEINER DER ARCHITEKT HERMANN HENSELMANN UND DIE BAUPOLITIK BERLINER ZEIT DIE MACHT UND DER NATIONALEN TRADITIONEN 195 0–1953 1949 –1995 DIE BAUKUNST Moderation: Wolf R. Eisentraut 10.20 Norbert Korrek (Weimar): Von Weimar nach Berlin. Von der 14 .FEBRUAR 2015 Akademie der Wissenschaften zur Bauakademie. Hensel - 11. HERMAN N manns Verhältnis zu Hans Scharoun bcc BERLIN CONGRESS CENTER HHEENSRELMMANANNALEXANN DERSTRASSE 11 · 10178 BERLIN 10.50 Eduard Kögel: Hermann Henselmanns Hochhaus an der KOLLOQUI UM W eberwiese als Leitbau der Stalinallee. Henselmanns V erhältnis zu Richard Paulick und Hanns Hopp HENSELMANN 11.20 Thomas Flierl: Hermann Henselmanns Artikel «Der reak - tionäre Charakter des Konstruktivismus» vom 4. Dezember MIT DEM 1951. Henselmanns Verhältnis zu Hannes Meyer UND DE M HERMANN –HENSELMANN-STIFTUNG 11.50 Diskussion MINI KTOFORPEEURNATDIOLNICHER UINNTSETRITSUTTÜ FTÜZRU RN EGGDIOE NRAL ENTWICKLUNG UND STRUKTURPULANND UDNEGR ERKNER INSTITUT FÜR KUNSTWISSENSCHAFT UND HISTORISCHE URBANISTIK DER TU BERLIN 12.00 Mittagspause ROSA-LUXEMBURG-STIFTUNG DWieO HaNuUsN AGSnBlAaUsGsE dSEeLsL S1 C0H0 AF. TG BeEbRuLIrNt-sMtIaTTgE es des Architekten Hermann HERMANN HENSELMANN ALS CHEFARCHITEKT Henselmann ( 1905–1995 ) von seinem Sohn Andreas Henselmann VON BERLIN/DDR 195 3–1959 errichtete Stiftung widmete bereits 2005 ihr erstes Kolloquium dem Moderation: Katrin Lompscher Namensgeber, dem «Baumeister» und dem «Umgang mit seinen 13.00 Bruno Flierl: Hermann Henselmann als Chefarchitekt von denkmalgeschützten Bauten».
    [Show full text]
  • Leseprobe 9783791385358.Pdf
    4 Rooms Bathed in Light for the New Human Architecture in the GDR was a balancing act between political symbolism, planning requirements, luxurious interiors and the decay of old urban quarters – a dazzlingly paradoxical chapter in European modernism. Lasting interest in the architectural heritage of the GDR is manifested What could be beautiful about the buildings in the constant appearance of new books, exhibitions and conferences – of a dictatorship? and it is reasonable to conclude that the buildings and urban ensembles On the other hand, for a long time many politicians and decision-makers constructed in the forty years1 of the GDR amount to more than a mere from the West regarded the GDR almost exclusively as a repressive, unjust footnote in architectural history. state, a dictatorship. They found it hard to imagine that the architectural Even thirty years after German unification, however, on many sides remains of this state could suddenly be of cultural value. “Did not the there is still no consensus about the architectural value of buildings in Party’s claim to total power restrict any development whatever of open the style of GDR modernism. Citizens and political decision-makers are thought and design in such a way that all that could result was, at best, still polarised when the value of such buildings is called into question and a stage set for the latest formal standards?”5 This question is legitimate, therefore their destruction is often under discussion. In January 2019, for and plays a key role in approaching this architectural heritage: In the leg- example, plans to demolish the Terrassenrestaurant Minsk, a work by the acy of a dictatorship, what is worth preserving or even to be considered architect Karl-Heinz Birkholz on the Brauhausberg in Potsdam, were attractive? foiled only at the last minute when a procedure to involve citizens led to a new majority on the building committee.
    [Show full text]