Contemporary architectural style
Modern architecture and restoration in Berlin
My original plan was to explore cities over here and over there but travel was restricted. Now it's possible, so I can go ahead with my plan.
So let's go down to the gate now for the two-hour flight to Berlin. We have arrived at BER, Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Completion was delayed by nine years.
It opened on the 31st of October 2020. It's massive and it looks almost empty, but that's deceptive. It's actually quite busy and is set to become the 3rd busiest airport in Germany with 34 million passengers per year. Flights this evening - it's a Saturday - are a mixture of European city and leisure destinations. The terminal is sumptuously finished with monumental use of wood, concrete and plate glass. To me, it seems like a gigantic palace complete with runways, commissioned by some eastern potentate who decided not to move in, so it was turned into an airport. The reality was less glamorous and more costly. It's named after Willy Brandt, former Berlin Mayor and former Chancellor of Germany.
Outside the terminal, it's quiet and almost deserted. The square is named. Willy-Brandt-Platz and out there in the distance, beyond the airport perimeter is a place called Germany and we're about to explore. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche - the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is the most famous landmark of what was West Berlin. It's a powerful combination of old and new. It's a functioning church, a monument to the devastation of war and it's also used for concerts. The old church was built to commemorate Kaiser Wilhelm the First, united Germany's first head of state. It came together in 1871.
Construction was between 1895 and 1906. Four decades later, in 1943, it was damaged, though not completely destroyed in an air raid. The symbol of German unification became the symbol of German annihilation. After some disagreement over what to do with the ruin, architect Egon. Eiermann won the competition to redevelop the site. Initially he wanted to demolish the old tower but after a public outcry, he produced an amended design, the one we see today. Next to the ruined octagonal tower, a modern hexagonal church with a flat roof was built. A bell tower of similar design was placed on the other side of the ruined tower, plus 2 smaller buildings.
It was called by locals the 'Lippenstift und Puderdose', the lipstick and powder box. I've heard people say they don't like the modern church but I find it dramatic and perfect for the site. Most impressive is the effect of the 21,292 stained glass windows set into the honeycomb walls.
Inside, the blue gives a special atmosphere
And at night the windows glow to the inside and to the outside thanks to lamps between the inner and outer walls.
The ruined base of the old church contains many artefacts including a cross of nails from Coventry cathedral. Like many groundbreaking modern buildings, it has needed extensive renovation and work is in progress on the bell tower to counter the destructive effects of rust. In 2016, there was a terrorist attack, which is permanently commemorated on the steps. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche is one of Berlin's best-loved landmarks and is a symbol of how Berlin has spectacularly overcome the devastation of war.
Just next to the Kaiser Wilhelm church, at the focal point of what we now call City West, a new kid has arrived on the block. It was a few years ago, 2017 to be precise, a tall individual with a curvy exterior full of interesting facets and shapes and a look that's unique and classy. Upper West, 118 metres tall, arguably just tall enough to be a skyscraper, 33 storeys, fourth tallest in Berlin. There are shops in the base, a Motel One as far as the 19th floor and above that, offices. A sky bar was planned but never built. This new kid has a companion, it's the Zoofenster or 'Window on the Zoo' located across the street. Also 118 metres, 32 storeys and it's given as the fifth tallest in Berlin. It's based around more conventional, rectangular forms, though arranged in an interesting way.
The glazed upper floors have views over Berlin Zoo and the historic central area. Inside, there's a five-star Waldorf Astoria, as well offices and shops. Earlier 60s buildings, including one that spanned the street, were demolished to make way for both newcomers. At first sight, I wasn't too keen on this pair, sticking out above the skyline I remember. I wished they would go away. But now I've come to appreciate them. This glamorous couple can be seen all over Berlin. They've become established on the skyline.
We're going to head east now to look at the Bauhaus Archive and we're walking along by the canal, but what's this? A construction site. Let's take a closer look. Berlin Hyp - nothing to do with hypnosis, Berlin Hyp is a bank specialising in real estate development. 'Hypothek' means mortgage. Werte schaffen, Werte leben. - Create values, live values. Partners are not Manchester-based BDP architects but bdp real estate Berlin. Architects CF Møller.
Here's the visualisation: With its exterior framework of white concrete pillars and beams, it reminds me of the office building that replaced the Odeon Cinema on Oxford Street Manchester. Is there such a thing as a Berlin style of architecture or a Manchester style of architecture? We're about to look at a place that has a close connection with an architectural movement called 'The International Style.' It's had a huge impact on architecture worldwide. This is the site of the Bauhaus Archive, but at the moment it's a building site. A new tower is under construction which will house museum exhibits. Thoughtfully, they have built a temporary viewing tower where visitors can observe progress.
There are no staff or security guards,
You just walk in and go up the stairs, you wouldn't find that in manchester.
Exhibits show how the new building is
Going to look.
With its plain, functional aesthetic, the Bauhaus was hugely influential in the 20th century in architecture, design, art and craft.
It operated from 1919 until it was shut down by the Nazis in 1933. Its founders emigrated all over the world. Mies van der Rohe went to Chicago. After the war, a Bauhaus Museum was planned for the city of Darmstadt. Architect Walter Gropius produced the plans, but the location was switched to West Berlin on this site next to the Landwehrkanal. Construction was between 1976 and 1979. Gropius' original 1964 design was altered, though the futuristic curved silhouette of the shed roofs remained. It's one of Berlin's most notable modernist-style buildings.
In 2005 it served as an outdoor set for the science fiction action films V for Vendetta and Æon Flux. And while we're here, let's look across the street at a very interesting building, nothing to do with the Bauhaus. It's the national headquarters of the CDU, that's Angela Merkel's party, centre right, Conservative - kind of - the architecture is not traditional. Can forward-looking architecture produce forward-looking people? In front of the building, there's a CDU campaign sign. You don't need German to understand their priorities. And what of the architecture of the British Conservative party at their head office in. London? What message does it send out? I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions! As you may have noticed, I love to show people Berlin and I also love to teach people the German language. I've done it for many years.
You can learn with me in online classes using a fresh approach I've developed, I call it Turbo German. One-to-one or group, beginner or intermediate, e-mail german @aidan.co.uk that's german at a-i-d-a-n dot co dot uk. The Neue Nationalgalerie was the last building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He was born in Germany, emigrated to the US and became one of the most famous architects of the modern style. It's a very large glass and steel pavilion mounted on a podium with huge floor-to-ceiling windows on all four sides. The roof weighs 1260 tonnes. In the windows, surrounding buildings are reflected, including the Mattäuskirche, St Matthew's church, here they're reflecting the sound of the bells. The Neue Nationalgalerie was opened in 1968.
It was built not far from the Berlin Wall in an empty, undeveloped area on the margins of West Berlin. I just love the plainness and symmetry of the Neue Nationalgalerie, here complementing the curves of the sculpture "Têtes et Queue" or "Heads and Tail" in French, by Alexander Calder. Like many groundbreaking buildings, it needed renovation. It was closed for five years and re-opened in 2021. Original estimated cost: 101m euro, final cost for the repairs: 140m, paid for entirely by the federal government. Inside, the space is virtually empty. There are no pillars, and so it can be used for all kinds of exhibitions and artworks, here's a living artwork 'Huddle'. It's a kind of entrance foyer for the main exhibition areas in the basement, which house mostly 20th century art up to the 1960s.
For me, this is pure architecture, with almost nothing inside, a kind of gigantic folly, but the city outside becomes a kind of exhibit framed in those huge windows.
In the distance, we can see the
Towers on the potsdamer platz and on the right, the staatsbibliothek or state library.
The ceiling is impressive too with it square forms inset with lamps. A new building is now under construction next door to extend the exhibition space. It's the Museum of the Twentieth Century and it will be linked to the Nationalgalerie by an underground walkway. It will quadruple the available space. Let's hope the costs don't spiral out of control. Next, we're going to take the S-Bahn to Potsdam, capital of Brandenburg federal state, about half an hour's ride from the centre of Berlin, where we're going to see the Einstein tower.
That's not the Einstein Tower it's the Nikolaikirche in Potsdam town centre. Can we take a tram? No, there's no tram. Bus? No, that one's going to Sanssouci Palace, where all the tourists go, and we don't want to go there. We could hire a bike or take a taxi, but let's walk. It's located in the. Wissenschaftspark Albert Einstein, or science park, on the Telegrafenberg or mountain - 1,7 km along Albert-Einstein-Straße. It's quite a long and mostly uphill walk but it'll be well worth it to take lots of photos and articleclips of Germany's most fascinating and most intriguing building renovation project currently completely covered in scaffolding. Hmm, should have checked that out in advance, but never mind, in a glass case next to it, there's a model of the Einsteinturm.
It's an astrophysical observatory built 100 years ago, designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn to support experiments connected with Einstein's. Theory of Relativity. Later he changed his name to Eric and emigrated to the US, as Einstein himself did in 1933. America's gain was Germany's loss. There's the telescope designed by German astronomer Erwin Findlay-Freundlich, who fled to Scotland in 1939 and taught at St Andrews University. Here's how it looked when I came here in 2004. Its architectural style it's Expressionist. That's an artistic movement more famous for painting and poetry, but here it supports a scientific purpose.
I like that, art and science working together. I think the design is marvellous, but Einstein didn't like it. It was groundbreaking in its use of concrete and like all groundbreaking concrete designs, there were problems. Here it is during the first set of repairs during 1927. Let's hope this latest restoration will secure the building for the future. I'll be back when it's finished. I'm going to finish with a tribute to the Berlin S-Bahn or city railway, part of the rail network inside Berlin, which extends out into the surrounding. Brandenburg federal state.
It's run by Deutsche Bahn, German Railways. 340 km, nearly 3000 employees, 168 stations, 687 electric two-carriage units, 900,000 passengers per day during the week - figures from S-Bahn Berlin. On stations and passageways in the central area, archive photos, documents and artworks help to keep Berlin's incredible history ever-present. There's no attempt here to present a PR-approved 'modern' image. Some stations are in a contemporary architectural style, others retain a pre-war charm. Yes, there are sometimes delays "Ladies and gentlemen, the current delay of our train is 12 minutes. The next scheduled stop is " but those red and yellow ochre trains with their distinctive sound just keep moving and moving every day around the clock and they have been doing for over a century, apart from a short disruption in mid-1945 due to something that was going on at the time. And as we sit in the carriage looking out the window, I think of a song by David Bowie’s Berlin flatmate Iggy Pop.