By Nick Tafel
Berlin suffered a huge loss in the 1960s when Berlin split into the East and West. West Berlin was left without a sense of centralization and left without a city center. This posed a challenge and an opportunity for the architects, planners and designers of the progressive West Berlin. Starting from fresh, a diverse group of designers came together to create the Kulturforum in West Berlin, giving this side of the city a centralized area for gathering and cultural expansion. The designs of Mies Van Der Rohe and Hans Schauron are just two of the many buildings that make up the Kulturforum. The interesting thing about this complex is that it was built all from the 60s forward. This makes it a much more modern take on what an urban center should be. The building that make up the complex all served the purpose of bring art and culture to the west side of Berlin, a culture that was much lost with the split from the other side of the city. The center continues to bring culture and art together today, as it is still a busy and widely used area. The building include, Mies Van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie which was the very first museum of west Berlin and has become a very important exhibit space for art that ranges all the way from the classics to contemporary German painters. While some say that the Gemaldegalerie is not the most architecturally exciting on the exterior, this building holds arguably one of the most important art collections in all of Germany and maybe in all of Europe and boasts impressive architecturally designed interior exhibition spaces. The Kunstgewerbemuseum (museum of decorative arts) holds the most important collections of skilled craft arts in all of Germany. Situated on two different sites, this complex holds the work of skilled craftsmen ranging from post-antiquity to present. The museum for musical instruments by Edgar Wisniewski shows an impressive collection of about 800 musical instruments ranging from the 1600s until present day. Rolf Gutbrod is responsible for the Museum of Prints and Drawings at the Kulturforum which is one of four of the most important collections of sketches, watercolors, pastels and prints in the world. Here you can find works ranging from Warhol to Botticelli to Rembrandt. A cultural center like this would not be complete without the Berlin Philharmonie and the Chamber Music Hall. Both of which revolutionized the listening experience of the audience by placing the ensemble in the middle of the room and allowing a centralized, balanced listening experience for all the listeners in the halls. Schauron and Wisniewski worked together on developing both these musical halls starting as early as the 1960s with sketches and ending in the 1980s with the completion of the Chamber Music Hall. The State library and Ibero-American institute, located in the same complex, provide literature to the masses as well as a place for cultural Germany to have cultural and academic interdisciplinary exchanges with Latin America, Spain, the Caribbean and Portugal. The Wissenschaftszentrum was founded in 1969 as a complex where 140 social scientists work with development of trends, adaptation issues and possibilities for innovation of modern societies. Lastly, St. Matthews church on Kulturforum. This church was built originally in 1844-46 and was lost when Germany was ravaged by the war. This building was reconstructed in 1956-60 and has become an important part of the Kulturforum with its publicly open tower that offers an impressive view of the Kulturforum complex. The Kulturforum complex started as a center for art and culture to flourish and to this day it does just that. It provides architecturally interesting buildings that not only are visually stimulating but artistically interesting on the inside and provide a sense of community and centralization for Berlin.
Berlin suffered a huge loss in the 1960s when Berlin split into the East and West. West Berlin was left without a sense of centralization and left without a city center. This posed a challenge and an opportunity for the architects, planners and designers of the progressive West Berlin. Starting from fresh, a diverse group of designers came together to create the Kulturforum in West Berlin, giving this side of the city a centralized area for gathering and cultural expansion. The designs of Mies Van Der Rohe and Hans Schauron are just two of the many buildings that make up the Kulturforum. The interesting thing about this complex is that it was built all from the 60s forward. This makes it a much more modern take on what an urban center should be. The building that make up the complex all served the purpose of bring art and culture to the west side of Berlin, a culture that was much lost with the split from the other side of the city. The center continues to bring culture and art together today, as it is still a busy and widely used area. The building include, Mies Van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie which was the very first museum of west Berlin and has become a very important exhibit space for art that ranges all the way from the classics to contemporary German painters. While some say that the Gemaldegalerie is not the most architecturally exciting on the exterior, this building holds arguably one of the most important art collections in all of Germany and maybe in all of Europe and boasts impressive architecturally designed interior exhibition spaces. The Kunstgewerbemuseum (museum of decorative arts) holds the most important collections of skilled craft arts in all of Germany. Situated on two different sites, this complex holds the work of skilled craftsmen ranging from post-antiquity to present. The museum for musical instruments by Edgar Wisniewski shows an impressive collection of about 800 musical instruments ranging from the 1600s until present day. Rolf Gutbrod is responsible for the Museum of Prints and Drawings at the Kulturforum which is one of four of the most important collections of sketches, watercolors, pastels and prints in the world. Here you can find works ranging from Warhol to Botticelli to Rembrandt. A cultural center like this would not be complete without the Berlin Philharmonie and the Chamber Music Hall. Both of which revolutionized the listening experience of the audience by placing the ensemble in the middle of the room and allowing a centralized, balanced listening experience for all the listeners in the halls. Schauron and Wisniewski worked together on developing both these musical halls starting as early as the 1960s with sketches and ending in the 1980s with the completion of the Chamber Music Hall. The State library and Ibero-American institute, located in the same complex, provide literature to the masses as well as a place for cultural Germany to have cultural and academic interdisciplinary exchanges with Latin America, Spain, the Caribbean and Portugal. The Wissenschaftszentrum was founded in 1969 as a complex where 140 social scientists work with development of trends, adaptation issues and possibilities for innovation of modern societies. Lastly, St. Matthews church on Kulturforum. This church was built originally in 1844-46 and was lost when Germany was ravaged by the war. This building was reconstructed in 1956-60 and has become an important part of the Kulturforum with its publicly open tower that offers an impressive view of the Kulturforum complex. The Kulturforum complex started as a center for art and culture to flourish and to this day it does just that. It provides architecturally interesting buildings that not only are visually stimulating but artistically interesting on the inside and provide a sense of community and centralization for Berlin.
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