This is a ‘proper’ website version of a blog I started a couple of years ago (architectureinberlin.wordpress.com) which had around 100,000 hits by September 2009. It’s still there, but I am now posting new content here.
I moved to Berlin in 2007, partly to spend more time clubbing and sitting in cafes, but mainly to pursue my obsession with architecture and all things urban. Tired of listening to me endlessly banging on about the subject, friends encouraged me to pour it all into a blog, where my thoughts would be safe from the general public.
In my past life I worked for an architects’ practice in London, and started writing back then. I’m gradually transferring earlier writing to a second blog here. Let me know if you can think of a better name for it than ‘Jim Hudson – Writing’.
Recent work includes magazine articles, proof-reading translated english texts for various publications, film sub-titles - in fact anything to do with written english. Do get in touch if you think you have something that could benefit from polishing. And yes, I am aware that I need to give my own blog a proof-read from time to time (before you start emailing me about errors).
jim_hudson33@yahoo.co.uk
A final note: nearly all the images on the blog are my own, and are licensed under a Creative Commons license – you can use them for non-commercial purposes, but please mention me/link to the blog when you do so.
I think your website is the coolest thing ever!
i reckon the vw campervan would work well in a berlin apartment. Perhaps an airsteam as well. Just sitting at dubai aprport about to fly to berlin (via istanbul) and stumbled on your excelent blog. Love the photos. what do camera do you use?
Thanks for the comment! Glad you like the blog.
The camera is… my girlfriend’s. It’s a Canon Eos 400D. I’m a (very) amateur photogrpaher, but do a bit of ‘fixing’ with the photos just using Picasa.
Jim
Nice blog. I appreciate your focus on modern berlin. So many people get caught up in the complex history that they overlook some of the recent events and design going on.
I am also an architect in Berlin spending my time blogging and looking for work. I missed your last meet up but will try to make the next one. In the meantime check out http://www.talkitect.com. I would love if you would add a link to it from your site.
Keep up the good work.
jim, I translated a catalogue for the exhibition city of architecture, architecture of the city in the neues museum before the reno. tells you a lot about the “modern period” from 1900-2000, there is a book of the same name, nicolai verlag, in english or german, the catalogue only got published in german afaik. berlin is a city of invisible -architectural- layers. so many modern buildings have been replaced by more modern buildings. The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape by Brian Ladd was recommended to me recently by an irish jouro living here. have not got around to reading it yet. regards. nice site, tho I have to say I’m not a blog lover (or should that be “blover”?).
Hi Jim,
I am a mature ager student of architectural theory/history and have an assignment in which I have to select a topic in contemporary architectural theory and then show how it addresses the overall theme of ‘practice-theory”. I have chosen to research postmodernism and in particular I am interested in urban design theory. I thought an good example of this is the IBA in Berlin, but have been told to be very specific. I need to choose a couple of significant buildings/developments which really highlight the characteristics of postmodern architecture and incorporate the new urban design adopted by the IBA planners. Can you help? I was thinking of buildings in the Kreuzberg quarter – particularly one of the refirbished Mietskaserne.
Hi Theresa – certainly can help! Will mail you directly with some thoughts if that’s OK.
Hi Jim, love your site, offers lots of inspiration. I am currently working on a masterplan in central London and I am looking for references of dense residential developments of up to 8 storeys high, which is a typical Berlin size building block. I have found some useful info on Kollhoff’s Piraeus building in Amsterdam on housingprototypes.org, a building which apparently was inspired on the Berlin building block, but haven’t been able to find plans of buildings in Berlin. I was wondering if you have any plans available of, say, Rossi’s Quartier Schützenstrasse, Siza’s Bonjour Tristesse, and Hadid’s Dessauer Strasse? Cheers!
Hi Jim
We met at Thanksgiving in Berlin at Tammi’s. Finally got round to tracking down your blog – interested to explore further.
Hope your guests had a good weekend and managed to get to some of the musuems they were aiming for.
Have you managed to get into the Neues museum – with stuff in it – yet?
Christina
Jim,
you’re blog is fantastic. I wish I had more time as a result. Amazing how many buildings you speak about which I’ve already photographed unwittingly. Off on my little canal trip today. Nothing like enthusiasm to breed enthusiasm.
M29 tomorrow.
Thanks again.
Tania (nest)
great site, i was in Berlin this week and wandering about came upon the Eisenmann building, the Gregotti building and the Christine Hawley – i remembered them from my IBA book (academy editions 1987) so was flicking through it and wondering which projects got built. my kids thought most of the stuff pretty awful which it is but it has to be compared with what was going on elsehwhere which was even worse. so a quick search threw up your blog – great stuff – keep it up. can you start to go back and cover the Hansavertiel?
Thanks Crawford, glad you liked the site. Some IBA buildings definitely better than others I think! And yes, perhaps will do a bit more on the Hansa, as someone I know has just bought a place there and renovated it, so you never know…
Jim
Hi there,
Coming to Berlin 16th to 25th April and staying in Kreuzberg. I am a frequent visitor to Berlin and would love to see beyond the usual architectural glories. I’m a regular visitor to your excellent blog and have friends who attend your events.
Drop me a line with suggestions, or happy to meet up.
Cheers,
Chris Patterson
hi jim!
just came across your blog as i was doing some last minute prep before a trip to berlin/stuttgart/munich/basel/zurich with about 20 students from a collection of disciplines…
if you had four days in berlin, which buildings/ places would be absolute musts?
Hi Robert
Good to hear from you, sorry for slow response.
So much to see of course, but a couple of thoughts:
- visit one/some of the modernist estates from the 1920s:
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/denkmal/denkmale_in_berlin/en/weltkulturerbe/siedlungen/index.shtml
- The Hansaviertel, and Karl-Marx-Allee, by way of contrast: the west and the east’s very different approaches to urbanism in the 1950s:
http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?p=11
- My own personal obssession: the International Housing exhibition of the 1980s (the IBA – see right hand column). Have just done a small sample tour, would love to redo this soon but will be out of town until last week of June. The programme was huge, with a huge amount to see. If you’re in the embassy district (see below) worth visiting the development on Rauchstrasse,
http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?page_id=145
next to which are some experimental eco-houses by Frei Otto. Couple of key bits:
http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?page_id=194
http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?page_id=504
makes a good walk along the canal:
http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?p=657
and my personal favourite, which many architects hate:
http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?page_id=121
- the Embassy district, south of Tiergarten, rebuilt in the 1990s as an architectural zoo, but in a good way!
- if you have transport, I would recommend a trip out to see Axel Schultes crematorium (you can go inside if not a disturbance to any ongoing ceremonies)
http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?p=66
Am off to get married/honeymoon from Tuesday, so not much time, but hope this helps!
Jim