The Berlin That The World Never Saw

By: Chris Melton

Today, Berlin is a varied mixed of different architectural styles and movements that have attempted to glorify and push Berlin into the forefront of the architectural world. Many of these attempts were designed and created after the original pre-WWII Berlin was demolished following the war. In 1960, a new masterplan was drafted, and a new architectural movement called 'Kulturforum' began to give Germany a new name; and has strongly influenced the way Berlin stands today. What many do not know or realize is that many of the Nazi buildings crafted in Berlin were actually surprisingly beautiful, and even powerful, in their own right. Just what would Berlin look like if the Axis Powers had won? How would this have affected the architectural styles of today? These are some of the things I would like to discuss in tonight's post.

1n 1934, German architect Albert Speer was appointed as head of the Chief Office for Construction (COC), and would later be appointed First Architect of the Third Reich by Hitler himself. Speer's first commission in this new position is one of the few remnants of his architectural works that still stands today. Many were destroyed during the war, and many more were never built. The Zeppelinfeld Stadium was built for the Summer Olympics of 1936, and is still in use today. As a member of Hitler's close 'inner circle,' Speer quickly rose through the ranks, and became the tool that Hitler would use to glorify Berlin through architecture. 1n 1937, Hitler gave Speer the daunting task of designing the Neue Reichskanziel, or New Chancellery, on the site of the existing structure. The image below shows a model of this Chancellery as well as its floor plan. Speer undoubtably proved his worth by designing and building the Chancellery within nine months, all while it was still in use. This Chancellery was bombed during the war and later reassembled into the Soviet War Memorial at Treptow Park, Berlin.

Through analyzing Speer's architectural works, one can easily define the elements that manke his buildings so powerful. Speer, through both Hitler's indication and his own works, founded the Nazi architectural style, which was a sort of combination of Neoclassicism and Art Deco. This style, with the right execution proved to be very powerful at displaying both the power of the state and the Nazi ideals. Hitler used Speer to craft a vision of "Welthauptstadt Germania," or World Capitol Germany. This German utopia, while never built, would have actually been quite beautiful in its own respect. The Volkshalle, or 'People's Hall', would be the center "node" of the project, and the rest of the master plan was bassed off of this axis, not growing too large in area. The two images below show both a close up of the masterplan model as well as a detail of the Volkshalle itself. Borrowing heavily from Roman traditions and buildings like the Parthenon, the Volkshalle is a beautiful design that would have been a national landmark had it been realized. One important concept to note is that Nazi architecture wanted to glorify their ideals through stone, but also to provide a function and purpose as well. Sadly enough, many of the original buildings in these images were demolished before the end of the war, and countless others dismantled after.

While however beautiful Berlin might be today had the Axis Powers won, it of course doesn't define the means used, or warfare at all for that matter. But It is interesting to question how this style of architecture would have affected not only Berlin, but the rest of the world as well. Would Modernism have flourished nearly as well? The same thing goes for Contemporary architecture. Had Germany succeeded and won the war, many Nazi and Fascist architectural buildings and features would be more frequent than the styles of architecture today, and who knows what other kinds of styles and forms might have evolved out of those movements in the seventy years since the war ended. The world would  be a very different place indeed.

The Kulturforum

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.