figure 5. Strausberger Platz: 1969 and 2003
The postcards highlight areas of East Berlin that promoted a positive image of the east during the Cold War. These areas were in the spotlight as the Berlin Wall fell and capitalism moved eastward. One such location is seen in a 1970 postcard of Schönhauser Allee, an S-bahn transit stop in the former East Berlin ( fig. 4 ). It was not far from here that demon- strations for reform in the GDR took place, followed shortly by the first East Berlin couple to walk through the opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. This postcard docu- ments the types of apartments built in the east after World War II, and reveals a subtle layer of information in the the image on the stamp and its price, reflecting the differences between two economic and political regimes divided by one wall. Since unification, the once gray and dismal streetscapes in the original city fabric of East Berlin such as Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg, are giving way to scaffolding and brightly painted facades. As the residents of the former east acclimate to a new political and economic system, architecture mediates between the old and new, between the previous places made by the occupants in their memories and the imposition of a new space transformed by the change in political systems.
A view to the Fernsehturm — the East German television tower as seen from
Traces of Berlin’s political history are evident in the facades, courtyards and interiors of its architecture. The quiet markings on these buildings are so commonplace for its occu- pants, yet as a visitor, these markings over- whelm with a sense of history — war-marked façades, the names of former East Berlin busi- nesses. There are cranes across the skyline and scaffolding across façades —everything in Berlin is changing as people live within the process. This project will find an end but the city will continue to change.
Strausberger Platz, acts a focal point along Karl-Marx-Allee ( fig. 5 ). This grand boule- vard, which began construction in 1951, was known as Germany’s first socialist street, providing apartments for its citizens. 1 These apartment buildings were East Germany’s first attempt to provide mass housing. As construction continued, the cost exceeded the budget; consequently this building type was discontinued and replaced by a mass- produced type called Plattenbau. A few blocks north of Strausberger Platz, is the Platz der Vereinten Nationen (United Nations Square) formerly called Leninplatz. Postcards of the original Lenin statue that stood in front of a series of Plattenbau housing structures can now be found at flea markets. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the monument to Lenin was removed. 2 In its place now stand boulders from different countries referencing a new international relationship. This act of eras- ing the former socialist regime through the removal of monuments can also be seen in Wolfgang Becker’s 2003 film, Good Bye Lenin! .
1 Ladd, Brian. The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997, (186) 2 ibid. 197
Lois Weinthal is an Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin. She teaches architecture and interior design and continues to explore the space of interiors through peripheral disci- plines. This project was supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the DAAD.
on |site 12
local architecture | in a global world
16
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator