SPREEBOGEN PARK
*Axel Schultes*
Jennifer Lenn
After the second World War much was done to restore Germany, and even more so after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. Not only was the country's infrastructure destroyed but the government had been substantially set back as well. Crucial ties between East and West Germany had been broken during the war and the government had severely crippled the trust of its citizens, therefore calling for a massive restoration and renovation of an entire nation and its government. It had been agreed upon, with little or no rebuttal, that the center for the most important parliamentary and government buildings should lie in Spreebogen, Berlin on the Spree River. Master planning for the new Federal Government began in 1991 with a two-part international competition that was announced the following year. The first part would select a master spatial plan while the second called for the architectural designs. By 1996 another competition was announced for the design of a park which would exist in front of the German Chancellery building and the Paul-Lobe-Haus on the southern banks of the Spree River. The significance and symbolism of the location is, emphatically, just as important as the winning design itself by Axel Schultes.
Coinciding with the German Government's goal, Schultes submitted a design unifying the major government buildings, improving circulation around the river, providing leisurely space for the public and ultimately he designed a perfect display of the Nation's new identity. The layout of the park symbolizes the connection between East and West Germany that had just recently been restored. This is clearly defined by the central concept in their plan; the "Band des Bundes". The "Band des Bundes" is a board of government buildings that extends from the north part of Friedrich Wilhelm-Stadt to Moabit and crosses the Spree river two times. On the North end of the park are the legislative buildings of parliament and on the other are their executive counterpart, the chancellery. Connecting the two major sectors is the "citizen's forum", or the park itself which is rich in open green spaces dedicated to the people.
The open spaces in the inner parts of Spreebogen park were left as open as possible because Schultes felt it was important to leave plenty of spaces to the people of Germany. Not only does the park make a bold statement to the public but is also full of symbolism in order to remember German history. There are two major meadows which slope to follow the radius of the Spree river. The western meadow is made up of condensed boxwood beds (or Buxus Sempervirens) in the front yards of Grunderzeit Alsenviertels. The symbolism of this meadow acknowledges the agreement upon one location for the site of all diplomatic missions and the replacement of the wet meadows that had previously existed in Spreebogenpark. The east meadow of Spreebogenpark is full of tall, rich, and colorful grasses and plants which become visually contradictory to the western garden and in doing so also commemorates the division of Germany. The wall area of the meadow signifies the Berlin wall but the harmony in which the two meadows exist links the east and west gardens. This is only one of the many ways by which Spreebogenpark attempts to reveal the Government's new identity.
The newly found unity of the German Government and its people was celebrated from the early stages of this project beginning with the master planning of the site. Before master planning even began a common location was agreed upon for the central government structure. The Spree river united the plan all together in providing a perfect site for a new government and plenty of space to provide for the public. Once the main buildings were set in place and the architecture of the site had been developed, Schultes tied it all together with his landscape plan which has become known today as Spreebogenpark. His plan is developed around two major axis which link all of the major places of the city of Berlin. The axis are delineated by the healthy flow of circulation around the Spree River and by the self defining meadows throughout the park. The symbiotic relationship between the circulation, the government buildings and the luscious meadows form a strong and bold statement which defines the new identity of the German Government.
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