“Berlin is a city of many cities,” architect Hans Schneider, a partner at the J. Mayer H und Partner, told the winners of the 2024 Australian Institute of Architects Dulux Study Tour on their visit to his studio in the Berlin neighbourhood of Charlottenburg. “There is not one Berlin style.” The city’s architecture stands as a testament to the city’s tumultuous history, reflecting periods of prosperity, division and reunification.
“There’s certainly a lot of contrast,” said Flynn Carr, one of five winners on the study tour “a lot of interesting overlays when it comes to post war occupation, particularly with the Berlin Wall dividing East and West Berlin and the responses to that.”
The impact of the Berlin Wall acts as both a palimpsest in the city, and a marker of time. At the Senate Administration for Urban Development, Construction and Housing, two large-scale models delineate the built work carried out post-reunification, allowing visitors to see just how much of the city has emerged in the past 30 years.
Berlin city models exhibition.
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Linda Cheng
“It seems that there is a balance between greenery and the construction, compared to other cities in Europe,” said Jamileh Jahangiri. “We’re seeing a lot of the landscape as well. It’s like a landscape that came out of a ruin.”
Most Berlin has a height limit of 22 metres, and much of its urban fabric is dominated by long blocks with a succession of buildings deep into the site and courtyards in between.
“Berlin, like Tokyo, has this juxtaposition old and new side by side, but within Berlin, it’s like within an overarching order. There’s more consistency of building high and set back and typology,” observed Emma Chrisp. “There’s a beautiful consistency of light quality and environment quality because there are no streets that are being grossly towered over.”
Simona Falvo added, “There is a kind of inherent consistency with the uniformity, within building heights, setbacks, et cetera. But the beauty of Berlin is because of the diversity of the streetscape, and of the varying neighbourhoods, you see that difference being expressed so clearly in the architecture. That’s what makes Berlin so unique and fascinating from an architectural perspective.”
David Chipperfield Architects’ campus.
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Linda Cheng
We saw Berlin’s unique courtyard urbanism reinterpreted by different architects in their own studio sites. David Chipperfield Architects’ “campus” includes a series of concrete Seitenflügel (side wings) grafted onto the historic building fabric. At Terrassenhaus Berlin / Lobe Block by Brandlhuber plus Emde, Burlon and Muck Petzet Architekten, two staircases flank each side of the building to mimic the cocooning arms around a courtyard.
David Chipperfield Architects’ Leander Bulst explained that these long blocks could have up to seven buildings on the site, with wealthier residential blocks on the street front, and typically buildings at the rear would be industrial. The Chipperfield studio, for example, is located inside a former piano factory.
This history of residential and industrial functions collocated together, is something that Berlin should return to, says architect Martina Bauer of Barkow Leibinger, as a way of reducing distances between home and work, as well as reducing dead zones in the city. She said a new zoning category called “urban” would allow for a healthy mix residential and light commercial, creating a lively, 24/7 city.
Wohnregal by FAR Frohn and Rojas.
Image:
Linda Cheng
Wohnregal by FAR Frohn and Rojas is a project that does just that in the six-storey building that accommodates housing and work spaces. The project is the brainchild of architect Marc Frohn, who search all over Berlin for empty lots that could be developed. He sent more than 300 letters to owners of vacant properties and received three replies before purchasing the site for Wohnregal. The project also builds on the history of prefabrication in East Germany. A prefabricated construction system was adapted to create essentially six warehouses stacked on top of each other, with each floor accommodating two apartments. The shell of the building was constructed in just six weeks.
Over at Terrassenhaus Berlin, the ziggurat-shaped structure is also intended to the live-work typology. Although currently zoned for commercial use and housing a series of creative ateliers, the project has been designed to be flexible for potential use as housing in the future, should the zoning rules change.
Mike Sneyd said one of his key learnings from Berlin and the city’s architects is how the built environment is mitigating climate change and energy consumption. “The coolest lesson I took out of this – and it reaffirms what I’ve been doing in practice – is to build simply and move away from Passive House. Hans Schneider of J. Mayer H. und Partner explained that the Berlin approach to sustainability emphasises energy saving, requiring most buildings to function without mechanical cooling, instead opting for operable windows to provide ventilation. “It was really interesting to hear that perspective,” Sneyd continued. “It’s actually lower impact if you build simply.”
Linda Cheng is travelling with the 2024 Dulux Study Tour. Follow #2024DuluxStudyTour on social media and the blog.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
