architectureinberlin

So it’s about time I did another one of these – people often ask, and I never get round to it.

On Friday 31st May I’ll be running a tour of a selection of projects form the IBA (International BauAustellung) of the 1980s.

My blog has much detail on this, my favorite subject, so I won’t repeat it here – see this page for an intro http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?p=119

I’ve run the tour a few times before, and although I add and remove bits, it will be much the same as if you’ve been on it already!

Meeting details:

3pm at the corner of Kochstrasse and Wilhelmstrasse. We’ll begin with projects from the western, “Neubau” end of the IBA, followed by a short bus trip to the eastern, “Altbau” end. Will be around 3hrs, ending at a local Kreuzberg bar or cafe, near to Schoenleinstr and Kottbusser Toe U-bahn stations. A fair bit of walking involved!

Price: 15 euros.

Group size is limited, so please only say you’re coming if you’re REALLY coming by confirming direct to me at jimhudson40 (at) gmail.com. Saying ‘I’m coming’ on Facebook doesn’t count!

I’ll be running a social history-come-architecture tour of the SO 36 district on Saturday 25th May, in association with Slow Travel Berlin.

Starts at 3pm, duration 2-3 hours (usually followed by beers and chat in a local bar) meeting on Spreewaldplatz near Cafe Marx, 15 € per person.
Please book through Slow Travel, or if not possible let me know by email and pay on the day: jimhudson40 (at) gmail.com

A little about the tour:

Since its origins in the 19th century, the eastern half of Kreuzberg (still known by its long-defunct ‘SO 36′ postcode) has long been one of Berlin’s most vibrant districts. In the 1960s, the Berlin Wall left the area as a somewhat isolated part of West Berlin, but by the late 60s the district had become famous as a place where students, artists, anarchists and immigrants came in search of a life of low rents, freedom and non-conformity. Venues such as the SO 36 club, still very much alive, formed the centre of Berlin’s punk and new wave subcultures, frequented by the likes of Iggy Pop and David Bowie.

Surrounded by the Wall on three sides for half a century, some strange situations arose, with streets, communities and even a mainline station being divided between East and West.

SO 36 is still famous for its annual May day riots, although things have been calmer in recent years. But the large number of squatters, political groups and alternative communities who protested each year led to some radical experiments in living and housing, most interestingly the regeneration projects of the 1980s, which were in part an attempt by West Berlin to rescue the area from becoming a slum. The Berlin Wall fell before some of these projects were even complete, and ironically, these community-led projects paved the way for the full-scale gentrification now taking place.

The walking tour is a mix of urban history, architecture and anecdote giving an insight into the past, present and possible future of the this fascinating district.

I’ve mentioned it in previous post(s), but don’t forget tomorrow night’s ‘Triumph of the City‘ debate, at which I’ll be a panellist.  I know, standards are slipping.

Sad news that Hardt-Waltherr Hämer, the father of ‘careful urban renewal’ (’behutsamen Stadterneuerung’) and director of the Altbau half of the IBA 1987, died on Thursday.

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/zum-tod-von-hardt-waltherr-haemer-retter-von-kreuzberg/7190412.html

Hämer was a key plyer in the movement against the excesses of modernist planning of the 1960s and 70s, which in Berlin reached its nadir with the redevelopment of Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg.  He took the (at the time radical) view that cities could be revived by retaining the existing built fabric and working with local residents to improve their own homes and environment.   This stood firmly against the orthodoxy of the time – the scorched earth policy of urban renewal through large scale demolition and rebuilding, including major new road networks, which was of course much more profitable for investors and contractors than Hämer’s ’slow architecture’ approach.

His much publicised and successful project to put these ideas into practice at Chamissoplatz in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district led to his heading of the Altbau element of the International BauAustellung of the 1980s in West Berlin.  The legacy of his work here was later to be largely ignored during the redevelopment of Berlin following the fall of the Wall, with rabid gentrification, displacement of long-standing communities and the general blandifying of large parts of the city.

So, finally getting things moving with our first archi film night, this coming Wednesday.  Free entry, imported British beers, cake and more.

As usual, at Hudson’s, Boppstrasse 1, nearest U-Bahn Schönleinstraße.

Although I’m planning some ‘pure architecture’ films, including Rem’s Houselife, and Berlin Babylon, they’ll be mixed with movies that ’swim in an architectural sea’. Terry Gilliam’s Brazil is one such: a film from the days before CGI (but all the better for it) – a kind of darkly comic take on Orwell’s 1984, sharing at least one film location (Battersea power station) with the ’straight’ version of 1984 that came out the previous year. Yet Brazil is by far the better of the two films.

Gilliam has a madly architectonic eye, with virtually every scene a reference or in-joke about a particular building or failed utopian plan. It’s also a distopia where nothing mechanical or electronic ever works properly, a state of affairs with which I have much sympathy (and possibly the only film whose villains including heating and plumbing engineers?).

Anyway, it’s a great cast and an endlessly inventive film, that should be enjoyable even if you’re not a nerd like me.

A chance to read then discuss books about architecture and related subjects. Can be fact or fiction, specialist architectural theory best avoided!

Each month to have two books, which you’re encouraged to read beforehand, to make the discussion as interesting as possible.

J G Ballard – “Concrete Island” (a satirical novel about an architect who crashes his car and is trapped on an island formed between motorways)

Rem Koolhaas – “Delirious New York” (Koolhaas’ alternative urban history of the city – work of genius, or entertaining nonsense?).

Both available from Amazon and elsewhere.

Hosted at Hudson’s Cafe, at 19.30 on Wednesday 22nd August: http://www.hudsonscakes.com/

See also

http://www.facebook.com/events/137377596400908/permalink/145350668936934/

So the next architecture meetup will be on Wednesday 4^th April from 7.30pm

At my place again: Hudson’s Cafe, Boppstrasse 1, 10967 (corner of Schönleinstraße, nearest U-Bahn Schönleinstraße)

And there’s a theme: ‘the Media Spree, Ostbahnhof, Stralau and Rummelsberg’.

My idea is that we put our heads together and organise ourselves a bike tour of the area, getting access to buildings. Where to have lunch obviously a critical element. Perhaps a constructive half hour or so, then more booze and the usual socializing.

A few possible ideas:

• Tour of the ongoing reconstruction of Ostbahnhof
• A look at the stupidly glossy Nhow hotel (I may have a new contact there shortly who can show us around)
• Someone from the ‘Spreeufer für alle’ anti-Media Spree to talk en route?
• Tour of RadialsystemV
• A group lament on the loss of Bar 25, Kiki Blofeld etc and how horrible the O2 is.
• Maybe go up to Kraftwerk Klinkenberg?

Look forward to seeing you.

Architektur Galerie are still producing those handy selected listings, so in a lazy kind of a mood, thought I’d reproduce it here, in case you’re looking for some architecture-related things to do.

Happy New Year, by the way.

SOLD OUT, sorry!

Will run another one early in 2012 – email me if interested and will put you on the mailing list.

On Sunday, 11th December I’ll be running another tour of some of Berlin’s IBA buildings from the 1980s, beginning with a sample of ‘Neubau’ structures, then heading to the other end of Kreuzberg (SO36) to see some ‘Altbau’ with (fingers crossed) access into some of the blocks near the canal, to give a real feel for how radical some of these designs really were.

We’ll meet at 11am in front of John Hedjuk’s tower, on Besselstrasse.  Cost 8€, let me know in advance, jimhudson40(at)googlemail.com

It should last around three hours and will be mainly outside – wrap up warm and wear sensible shoes!  The first part will be around the area where we begin, then we’ll take a bus east to the other end of Kreuzberg to look at some of the ‘Altbau’ buildings, including access to see inside one of the semi-communal housing blocks and up to the roof.

It’s therefore best if you can buy travel tickets beforehand, at least for a single journey within zone A.  Quite a big response to the tour so I want to avoid a long queue onto the bus!

Not planning to stop in cafes or bars en route, but we will end at a bar which does food, and plenty of other eating options around as we finish up in the ‘buzziest’ part of Kreuzberg.

Looking forward to meeting you all, fingers crossed for good weather!

Also, Büro Schwimmer is running another of his tours the following day, ‘Megastructures 2‘ at the ICC – a classic piece of 1970s megastructuriness.

You’ve doubtless noticed that my blogging days are largely gone, at least for the foreseeable future, due mainly to a rather intensive (and I guess self-imposed) day job.  But I reserve the right to occasionally post something catching my eye.

I’m a local sort of person these days, but luckily the location of this locality is, in my opinion, by far the most exciting bit of Berlin that there is. Markthalle IX, one of the city’s many fine late 19th century market buildings, is being resurrected as of the 1 October; the market group has taken on urbanist-happening architect folk Raumlabor, who have much good stuff about it on their site.

Anyhoo, before that, there’s an exhibition at the Markthalle building all this week, running up to a discussion forum and public vote on Saturday, run by Spreeufer für Alle, and showing a range of alternative proposals to the mainly crushingly dull office developments that are likely to actually be built as Mediaspree.

What was the other thing… oh yeah – also a part of Experimentdays11 this week is the Wohnprojektborse at the DAZ, showcasing* 20 cooperative projects along the Spreeufer. You could join one if you have the cash.

*I hate this word, but it’s late, I’m tired and it sounds better than just ’showing’.