architectureinberlin

Did I mention this already?  I can’t remember, and don’t have the patience today to try my own (sometimes erratic) search function.  But the film’s running at the Babylon Mitte at the moment, and is, according to my mate Matt, not to be missed.  Hopefully I’ll be not missing it tomorrow, or perhaps some time later this week.

Apropos of nothing directly linked, when I was quickly searching for an image for this post (settling on the one above, thanks Nisi Masa), highest in the list came a piece by the ever-productive Owen Hatherley which has only a glancing connection – much more to do with the Babylon Kino and others, but is nonetheless worth reading.

Very short notice, but if you fancy a guided tour of Rem Koolhaas’ Dutch Embassy next Wednesday at 1pm, I need to send them a list of who’s coming by late afternoon tomorrow (Friday 5th Feb).

For each person, I need name, date of birth and a passport or ID card number.

jim_hudson33@yahoo.co.uk

Well worth a visit.  If you want to go along some other time, you can email them direct at BLN-RECEPTIE@minbuza.nl.

Some forthcoming things not to be missed:

On monday night (1st February) a showing of Berlin Babylon – Hubertus Siegert’s seminal documentary film about the reconstruction of prominent parts of Berlin in the 1990s, following many of the key players.  Showing as part of the Berlinsiche Galerie’s Berlin 89/09 season.  I’m working for him at the moment, so am possibly biased, but it’s worth seeing for lots of reasons, not least footage following the late Gunter Behnisch as he walks around the (at the time) semi-ruined Akademie der Kunst, Renzo Piano arguing about glazing details, and Helmut Jahn wearing a silly hat.

Also, if your partner doesn’t mind on Valentine’s Day, there’s the Berlinale Keynotes, with speakers including Norman Foster, Wolf D. Prix and Heinz Emigholz.

A couple of linked events on architecture and urbanism at the forthcoming Transmediale as part of the ‘Futurity Now’ programme: Topology of a Future City and Invisible Cities.

Plus of course ‘my’ regular Stammtisch, which will be on Tuesday 9th Feb (then back to the first Tuesday of each month thereafter) – at Kim – Brunnenstrasse 10, Berlin 10119 – from 8pm.

Disappointingly, I was hoping to arrange a group visit to the Dutch Embassy in February, but access/tours only available monday – thursday, so the planned saturday is not possible.  More on this once I’ve fixed a weekday date.

In summary, worth putting on your snow-wear for.

Rescheduled from a couple of weeks ago (see last but one post below) as usual at

Kim – Brunnenstrasse 10, Berlin 10119 – from 8pm.

Hope to see you there.

Jim

H – 01577 682 7829

It’s still snowing, which should mean that I’m out and about taking lots of pictures of interesting buildings covered in snow.  But I’ve decided not to venture out until spring (with the exception of the Stammtisch on 19th Jan of course) and am therefore continuing to raid my back catalogue of pics for inspiration.  Ah, memories…

Even though Berlin is now more built up than it has been for all of the second half of the twentieth century, it remains (probably) the only western capital city to have enough space to host a golf driving range in its centre.  Then abandon it.  Having already positioned said driving range within an even bigger area of post-industrial wasteland.  In turn surrounded by semi-abandoned buildings.  It’s here (the green bit roughly in the middle).

I’m never sure whether I’m exaggerating to myself here.  Is Berlin really that deserted compared to the only comparitor city that I know really well, London?  And is London really that manically full of people and things, all of them in a hurry?

Anyway, the space in question has everything; formally a vast goods yard/train-type-thing south of the Kanal from Potsdamer Platz – which you can see in the distance in some of the photos.  That sense therefore, of being in a lonely place where something exciting is happening in the distance (don’t worry – it’s Potsdamer Platz, so in fact nothing very exciting is happening).  Abandoned things.

Post blog note: have now looked this site up (via my IBA guide, at least) which shows it as the ‘Former Potsdam Goods Station’, and at the time the book was published, around 1990, still shows tracks and railway buildings.  The buildings immediately to the west, on Flotwell Strasse, were in the IBA programme as blocks 228 – 240, to be redeveloped to a masterplan by Daniel Libeskind.  It looks typically angular, shard-like and bonkers, with a single long rectangualr structure spanning the site longways (north-south) at high level, as a sort of bridge.  The IBA report notes the status as “Finance for Libeskind project open at present”.  Which is a euphemism for ‘nice idea, but no money, sorry’.

The site is just to the west of the huge abandoned train yard which served the Anhalter Station.  The train turntable sheds are now incorporated in the rather fabulous Technikmuseum – well worth a visit – and includes a vast model railway of part of the goods yards and the Anhalter station itself.

The rear end of the Bombadier company, who still make trains:

Gleisdreieck* U-Bahn station (*’Three-cornered platform’, I guess).

Apologies for poor photo quality – it was darker than it looks, I pressed the wrong buttons on the camera, and had no tripod.

It’s just occurred to me that this post, and several others preceding it, are not really about architecture at all.  Urbanism, at a push maybe.  Sorry for that.  I don’t blame you really for visiting a site called ‘Architecture in Berlin’ and complaining that it should have been called ‘Gloomy Places in Berlin’.  A host of sunlit happy buildings to be featured soon.

I may have mentioned previously (at least twelve times) how I’m not getting out much lately to look at architecty things.  So in order to have something to blog about, I thought I’d employ some nostalgia.   Moments from the tale end of this summer in fact, when I was working at the Art Forum Berlin up at the Messehalle.  It’s part of that site which also includes the immense 1970s bulk of the ICC (International Conference Centre) as well as the almost-certainly-doomed Deutschlandhalle.

La la la, I’m putting  a line in here as the site design won’t allow me to space out the images to avoid visual confusion.  So no need need to read this bit.

Not knowing the building, I’d imagined that I’d be stuck manning a stand in some dismal artificially lit exhibition cavern, and have a rubbish time.  It turned out not; although the front of the ICC is all imposing overblown fascism, although you can’t help being grudgingly impressed by the entrance hall as the sunlight floods from high above – but carry on through to the back section (the restaurant area, usually my first port of call at any trade fair) and you suddenly find yourself in endearing postwar light-touch modernism.  To me it had the feel of London’s South Bank during the Festival of Britain (I hadn’t been born at the time – it was 1951 – but I’ve looked at lots of pictures, and my dad used to bore regularly on the subject when I was a teenager).  Anyway, it’s nice isn’t it?

I haven’t tried very hard, but haven’t found any information about the back of the building.  1950s?  1960s?  Let me know if you know!

Also, straight across the road, if you’re out and about in that direction, is Hans Poelzig’s Haus des Rundfunks* (House of Radio).  Not to be missed, although I only had time for a jog round during a quick lunch break, hence not many photos of it on my Flickr.

*It’s Rundfunks with an ’s’ by the way, because it’s in the Genitiv (Possessive) case.  Every second building in Berlin is a grammar test…

And finally, (from that particular jaunt), as you come out of the nearest U-Bahn up at Kaiserdamm, you can see a Hans Scharoun housing block across the road.  I recognised it as probably Scharoun, but guessed it as 1950s, maybe 1960s.  Actually, it’s 1928-1929.  Amazing really.

Was just browsing through my photos from ‘09, and have tonnes of this sort of stuff to blog, so won’t actually have to go outside again until spring.  Luckily, thanks to the gift of Christmas, I have a supply of chocolate that will last until May.  Happy New Year!

I took all the above photos by the way, and license them under a Creative Commons license, so you’re welcome to use them for non-commercial purposes (unlikely they’d be good enough for anything else…) but do credit me/my blog if you do use them on your own blogs/dissertations/Wikipedia etc (you know who you are!).

I’m still alive, but have been desperately busy over the last few weeks/months, with a lot of cake baking, plus other things, going on.  Actually, of these two (cake baking / other things) it’s been mainly cake baking.

But the ‘other things’ have been interesting.  I’ve been doing english subtitles for some short architecture films which the ever-fabulous architekturclips.de have put together for the climate summit in Copenhagen next week.  I’ve listed them out here, if you’re mad keen to know which ones.

This one’s interesting in a techy sort of way, and is in Berlin.

And this one’s very interesting, although not subtitled by me (not subtitled at all, in fact) and not to do with sustainability.

By the way, the next Stammtisch will be on 5th January (the rule being the first Tuesday of the month).  Even though it’s January, and will doubtless be cold, and we will all doubtless be broke.

I’ve often bemoaned my own tardiness on this site in terms of keeping a log of architecture-related events going on in Berlin.  I always intend to, but it’s a task that if done thoroughly seems overwhelming.

This site however is much more successful at it (well, they have lots of people on board) – www.urbanophil.net.  In fact, I notice that they’re running a film on thursday night at the Bier Pinsel (properly the Schloss-Turm), a strange so-ugly-it’s-gorgeous-or-perhaps-it’s-just-ugly structure which you really should visit if you haven’t already.

Plus I’m jealous of their rotating tag cloud.  Oh well.

Annoyingly busy lately, hence the continuing lack of blogging, but essential to mention the next Stammtisch, which once again will be at Kim – Brunnenstrasse 10, Berlin 10119 – from 8pm. There’s no sign saying ‘Kim’ (to be extra cool) and it just opens for us on the night, so don’t be afraid to come on in even if it looks more like a meeting than a social gathering.

Everybody and anybody welcome, to have a beer and chat about architecture, urbanism and other such related Berlin things.  Generally in english, but german often breaks out in small pockets.

I’ve also set up a Facebook group for it, if you’re familiar with such things, called Berlin Architecture Circle – possibly not a great name, but I found a really good picture for it so couldn’t resist…

Hope you can make it,

Jim

H – 01577 682 7829