Architecture in Berlin

Christian Searcy

Memorials

Neue Wache

The memorial at the Neue Wache is called that because at one point it was the a guard house. The name translates to “New Watch.”

The building served as a royal guard house until the end of World War 1, and the fall of the German monarchy in 1918.

Designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, this building is an example of Neoclassicism, due to its angles, oculus, and doric columns.

This building was Schinkel’s first major commission in Berlin.

Soviet War Memorial at Treptower Park

The Soviet War Memorial at Treptower Park is both a memorial and a cemetary, commemorating 5,000 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers killed in the Battle of Berlin in 1945.

This memorial opened on May 8, 1945, and served as the central war memorial of East Germany.

This structure was designed by Yakov Belopolsky, and the main statue was crafted by sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich.

Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand

Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand

The Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, or The Memorial to the German Resistance was opened in 1980 as part of the Benderblock, a complex of offices.

The memorial is not only intended to memorialize those that tried to assassinate Hitler on July 20 of 1944, but also to the German Resistance in the broader sense, though there was no united resistance at the time.

This memorial was designed by Professor Erich Reusch, and the bronze figure (shown left) of a yound man was created by Professor Richard Scheibe. The memorial was unveiled on July 20, 1953.

Berlin Nazi Architecture

By: Navya Yerra

Olympiastadion• Berlin sports stadium: 1st stadium

built by 1916, second by 1936. Olympic games were aborted in 1916 due to World War I.

• One of the few buildings that was untouched after World War II.

• Built by members of the same family, first by Otto March and the second by son, Werner March

• The stadium is now the biggest seating area in Germany

Templehof Airport• Templehof was the world’s

first airport with an underground railway station and was one of Europe’s three ionic pre-World War II aiports

• -Throughout the Cold War years, Templehof was the main terminal for American military transport aircraft accessing West Berlin

• -Created with Nazi Architecture

• -Closed down now making Schonefeld the central airport in Berlin

Kunsthaus Tacheles

• Building is created to be typically considered as an example of early modern architecture exhibiting classic and Gothic styles.

• It is an art center and nightclub that was opened in east Berlin after the Berlin Wall came down in spring of 1990.

Sachsenhausen

• Nazi concentration camp used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in may 1945

• After World War II, the structure was used as an NKVD special camp

• Now the area is a national memorial for all those who suffered in the internment camps and museum for the public

Jewish Berlin

Veev Conty

Holocaust Memorial• Architect: Peter Eisenmen• Style: Structuralism

– Complex structures and patterns– Clear architectural components

• Significance:– Remembers the Holocaust

without being nostalgic– Acknowledges the masses

murdered during the holocaust but still give a sense of individual

• Holocaust– 1933-1938: Hitler made a series

of anti-Semetic Laws eventually culminating into the Holocaust (genocide of European Jews)

Jewish Museum• Architect: Daniel Libeskind• Style: Deconsturctivism

– No visual logic– Controlled chaos– Fragmentation– Odd shapes to disorientate and

dislocate architectural elements

• Significance:• Honors the Jews and remember

their history without making them a removed ethnic group

• Covers all aspects of Jewish life in Europe: Axes of Community, Holocaust, and Continuity

Neue Synagogue• Architect: Eduard Knoblauch• Style: Neo- byzantine with Moorish

influences• Large domes • Mosaics instead of hard carving

or paintings• Many windows to illuminate the

interiors– Moor Elements:

• Carved plaster for crown molding and archways

• Mosaic columns and fountains• Large doors

• Significance:– Largest synagogue in the world when

completed– Desecrated during Kristallnacht and

completely destroyed during WWII– Rebuilt in the 80s

New Synagogue, Dresden

• Context:• Original Synagogue was burned down

during Kristallnacht• Kristallnacht aka The Night of Broken

Glass in 1938 – Nazi Storm Troopers, the SS, and the Hitler Youth ransacked Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues. They brutalized many of the Jews

• Architect: Rena Wandel-Hoefer and Wolfgang Lorch

• Style: Modeled after Israelite Temples, Modernist• Israelite:

• No windows• Cube shaped

• Modernism• Emphasis on function• No adornment

• Significance:• This one was built to commemorate the old

synagogue

The Cold WarArchitecture in Berliniterm 2010

Roman Myers

Checkpoint CharlieThe best known and most important of the three areas of movement between West Berlin and the GDR. This building is significant, architecturally, for its lack thereof. Though the checkpoint lasted years, the US never build a permanent structure here, as if they were subtly refusing to believe such a split was necessary, as if they believed it would end quickly and soon.

http://thelundberg.com/EuropeWeb/images/053002_CheckPointCharlie.jpg

Russian Embassy to Germany and the GDRThis is the Russian Embassy to Germany, built to replace a Schinkel that had been destroyed in World War Two. It was built in 1950-1953 in the Stalinist Neo-classic style under the direction of Friedrich Skujin. The embassy is important in that it demonstrated the influence of the Soviet upon the GDR. It demonstrated how Soviet architecture was supposed to look, and, by breaking German building codes, with its court and tower, shows how much sway the Soviet had in GDR law.

http://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/82/Russian_embassy_berlin_2_0.JPG

Berlin FernsehturmThe Fernsehturm was built in the 60’s by the GDR under the direction of Herman Henselmann. It is similar to another such tower in Stuttgart. Primarily a radio and television tower, the Fernsehturm was also made as a symbol. It was made to exemplify the benefits of Communism, and the contribution the GDR could make to a German society. (At the time, the Fernsehturm was the tallest building in Germany). It is interesting to note that the GDR had to hire West German architects to solve some problems in design, which is ironic, considering its place as a symbol.

http://www.philipp-winterberg.de/

The Berlin PhilharmonieThe Berlin Philharmonie is the home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. It was in some ways a Fernsehturm of the West, showing what benefits western society could confer upon a German one. It was designed by Hans Scharoun in the early 60’s. In a modern and organic style, the architecture of this building seems very convoluted until one realises that the building was built around the Orchestra. The building was built to emphasize its acoustics.

http://www.charite.de/fabisch/Figures/Berlin/Philharmonie.jpg

The Berlin WallThe Wall is the iconic emblem of the division between East and West Berlin. It is a touchstone of graffiti as art, and, besides that, is heartbreakingly drab and foreboding. It was erected by the GDR in 1961 to halt emigration of skilled workers into the West for political and economic reasons. (The movement of the intelligentsia of the East caused severe economic crises and near nation-breaking difficulties throughout the history of the GDR.)

http://www.wheressamtheman.com/uploaded_images/Berlin-wall-761406.JPG