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Great job keeping us updated! :tup:
And yes, some of us do occasionally browse this thread. :) |
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Or is this maybe an airport for smaller planes??? :???: |
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There was a great thread at SSC a while back that showed Berlin "then" and "now" and you could see how much nicer they were. Pity they still don't have a search facility on that forum. |
Sad news : the Tempelhof airport is going to be shut down :(
Official text in German: Der Flugbetrieb auf dem Flughafen Tempelhof soll 2007 beendet werden. Damit fällt eine Fläche in das Berliner Stadtgebiet zurück, die mit ca. 386 ha größer ist als der gesamte Berliner Tiergarten. Ein gewaltiges Flächenpotential, das integriert, verwaltet und entwickelt werden muss. Das Konzept zur Nachnutzung des Flughafens Tempelhof ist bereits seit den 90er Jahren diskutiert und publiziert worden und steht in seinen Grundzügen fest: die innere Fläche des Flughafengeländes bildet eine Grünanlage, das “Wiesenmeer”, das durch einen ringförmigen Boulevard begrenzt wird. In den Randzonen schließen sich Baufelder für unterschiedliche Nutzungen – Wohnen, Büros, Gewerbe, Dienstleistungen, Sporteinrichtungen etc. – an. Durch die Größe der Fläche kann das Gelände nicht kurzfristig entwickelt werden. Angesichts der Berliner Immobilienmarktsituation sind mittelfristig nur begrenzte Aufnahmekapazitäten zu erwarten. Vor diesem Hintergrund soll die Standortkonferenz das Nachnutzungskonzept in Erinnerung rufen und Erfahrungen, die mit anderen Flughafenumnutzungen gemacht worden sind, zur Diskussion stellen. some ideas of the develoment of the airport on pdf: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d..._III_Teil2.pdf |
So, are there any updates about Alexanderplatz? What's going on there?
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http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...startseite.jpg |
Time for spotlights on actual buildings & contructions:
TV Tower The TV Tower next to Alexanderplatz has become a symbol of the city of Berlin. Designed by Hermann Henselmann and built between 1965 and 1969, the tower is 368 metres tall and houses a revolving café, telecommunication installations and a viewing platform. On a clear day the view extends 40 kilometers in all directons. The seven-storey sphere weighs 4,800 tons and rests on the concrete shaft at a height of 200 meters. The individual sections were pre-assembled on the ground, then fixed with tie bars and fitted together at the top of the shaft. From 1993 to 1998 the tower underwent refurbishment in several stages, in the course of which a new antenna increased the height from 365 to 368 meters. The actual tower entrance is situated on the first floor of a hexagonal hall at the base of the tower. The ground floor includes a souvenir shop. http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ernsehturm.jpg |
Berlin Cathedral
In 1747, Frederick II had architect Johann Boumann the Older build a cathedral next to the Lustgarten, replacing an older version situated south of the royal palace and dating back to 1536. In 1817 Schinkel redesigned Boumann's building. It was demolished in 1893. Today's monumental structure was erected between 1894 and 1905 to plans by Julius Raschdorff and his son, Otto. This outstanding example of religious architecture in the latter part of the 19th century contains elements of Roman baroque and Italian high renaissance. The cathedral was badly damaged in the Second World War. However, while the adjacent royal palace was demolished for ideological reasons, the cathedral ruins were left untouched. The church authorities in the GDR even managed to begin restoration work on this vast building in 1974. With financial help from the Protestant Church in the Federal Republic of Germany, a somewhat simplified restoration of the exterior was completed in 1981. The interior with its eight ceiling mosaics, the imperial staircase, and the crypt were restored between 1984 and 2002. About 100 coffins found in the crypt have been on display since 1999 - including those designed by Peter Vischer in 1530, and the magnificent coffin for Frederick I designed by Andreas Schlüter. Since the early 1990s, services and concerts have once again taken place in the cathedral. http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...bilder_dom.jpg official link : http://www.berliner-dom.de/startNet.htm |
Bundestag Office Building Unter den Linden 50
The former GDR Ministry of Foreign Trade building was converted by architect Alexander Kolbe into an office block for members of the Bundestag, the Lower House of the German Parliament. The building, which measures 100 by 100 metres, includes 450 offices, 19 board rooms and four shops, and takes up an entire block. Its external appearance has changed radically in recent years. The front of the building has been faced with Roman travertine, whose yellowish-brown hue harmonises with the tone of the Embassy of the Russian Federation across the street. The interior courtyard designed by Klaus Rinke contains a birch tree grove and the vast "Sunbeam" sculpture that marginally exceeds the height of the building itself. http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d..._bundestag.jpg |
Alexanderplatz station
Alexanderplatz station became a hive of activity when streetcar and subway lines were connected to the station in 1913. It was erected to plans by architect Johann Eduard Jacobsthal between 1878 and 1882 immediately after the rail tracks were constructed over the 'Königsgraben', a former drainage channel. A riveted steel arch structure, 20 metres high, spans the suburban railway tracks that were electrified in 1928. The suburban rail, three subway lines, and several tram and bus lines met at Alexanderplatz. Since 1930, underground passages have lead directly to subway platforms. In 1964, architects Hans-Joachim May and Günther Anrich added high glass walls to complete the station hall. A pedestrian arcade extending throughout the interior of the building was introduced around the same time. To cater for the changes prompted by the reunification of the city, Deutsche Bahn AG modernized the station from 1995 to 1998. Architects Rebecca Chestnut and Robert Niess were responsible for the new design. Previously walled-up arcades were re-opened, fitted with glass partitions, and given an old-style clinker brick facing. The railway service facilities operated by Deutsche Bahn AG are supplemented on the ground and lower floors by some 50 shops, cafés and restaurants. A circular stairway now connects the ground floor with the subway level. After refurbishment, suburban, local and regional trains began once again to stop at Alexanderplatz. pictures from 1900 to 2001: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...anderplatz.jpg |
Brandenburg Gate with the Sommer Building and Liebermann Building
The Brandenburg Gate is undoubtedly the architectural highlight of Pariser Platz. Designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, Court Superintendent of Buildings, the Gate is reminiscent of the Propylaea at the Acropolis in Athens. Its main architectural features have essentially remained unchanged since construction in 1791. Between 2000 and 2002, the German Foundation for Monument Protection carried out complete restoration of the Gate. The original buildings to the right and left of the Brandenburg Gate were confronted with a different fate. Built in 1737 and modernized in 1846 by August Stüler, they were named after the master carpenter Carl August Sommer and the painter Max Liebermann, who used them for residential purposes. Both buildings were destroyed during World War Two. The present buildings, designed by Josef P. Kleihues, were erected in 1998. The Brandenburg Gate was thus reintegrated into the architectural geometry of Pariser Platz. Today, both buildings are occupied by banks and used for art exhibitions, lectures and conferences. http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...bilder_tor.jpg Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) Pariser Platz (Paris Square), Mitte; 1788-91 by Carl Gotthard Langhans, sculptures by Johann Gottfried Schadow http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...burger_tor.jpg The Brandenburg Gate is the trademark of Berlin. The main entrance to the city, surrounded by the wall for thirty years, was known throughout the world as a symbol for the division of the city and for the division of the world into two power blocs. Today's international visitors to Pariser Platz come to re-experience this first gateway to the city, and to enjoy the long-denied freedom to walk through this magnificent work of art and look at it up close. It was built as the grandest of a series of city gates constituting the passages through the customs wall encircling the city at the end of the eighteenth century. It is the only gate which survived, because it constitutes the monumental termination of Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees which led directly to the residence of the Prussian kings until the destruction of the city castle. The entire construction and ornamentation of the gate reflect the extraordinary importance it was granted by its builders. The architect selected as the model for his design the Propylaea in Athens, the monumental entry hall of the Acropolis. Just as the Propylaea led to a shrine of the Ancient world, this gate was to represent the access to the most important city of the Prussian kingdom. This reference to Antiquity made it the structure which founded the Classic age of architecture in Berlin, an epoch which brought the city its sobriquet "Spreeathen" ("Athens of the Spree" -- Berlin's river is called the Spree). The most important sculptor in Berlin during this period carried out the accompanying agenda of visual explanation. The Brandenburg Gate is crowned with a quadriga depicting the goddess of victory, "who brings peace", marching into the city. The relief on the pedestal portrays her again with her attendants. Personifications of virtues like friendship and statesmanship are represented, along with symbols of arts and sciences, because they make a city like Berlin bloom in times of peace. Reliefs with the exploits of Hercules in the passages allude to the time of the wars and the subsequent period of reconstruction, during which Friedrich II made Prussia into a European power and laid the foundation for flourishing trade and crafts. The gate thus is also a memorial for the king who died a few years before its construction. The Brandenburg Gate is not only a symbol of division and reunification; it was also the site of many other events in German history, a history characterized by so many peaks and troughs. In 1806 Napoleon marched triumphantly into Berlin and carried the Quadriga away with him to Paris as a spoil of war. In 1814, after the victorious conclusion of the wars of liberation, Schinkel replaced the oak wreath on the goddess' scepter with an iron cross, changing the figure's interpretation from a courier of peace into a goddess of victory. In 1933 the National Socialists marched through the gate in a martial torch parade, introducing the darkest chapter of German history, ultimately leaving the city destroyed and Germany divided. |
Museumsinsel Berlin - 2015 - Future Projection
http://www.museumsinsel-berlin.de/im...seumsinsel.jpg The website for the master development plan of Berlin's Museumsinsel (Museum Island) shows its planned future form. It explains the master plan's basic idea and the restructuring of the museums and presents the history of the island's buildings and collections. The Museumsinsel (Museum Island), considered as a unique ensemble of an educational landscape, represents 100 years of museum architecture in the middle of Berlin. The reunification of Germany opened up the historically unique opportunity to reunite the collections which had been divided between East and West. In 1999 UNESCO placed the Museumsinsel under its protection as a “World Cultural Heritage” site. The foundation's council had adopted a master plan for renovation of the buildings and modern development of the entire museum area. The master plan was included in the application for the distinctive classification by UNESCO. It treats the five historic buildings as a single unit while respecting their architectural autonomy. Responsibility for implementing the idea behind the master plan was assumed by the Museumsinsel planning group formed in 1998, which consists of the architecture offices commissioned with renovating the buildings and is chaired by David Chipperfield Architects. The Museumsinsel is situated on the northern part of an island in the centre of Berlin in the River Spree and has an area formed in 1998, which consists of the architecture offices commissioned with renovating the buildings and is chaired by David Chipperfield Architects. The Museumsinsel is situated on the northern part of an island in the centre of Berlin in the River Spree and has an area of almost one square kilometre. On this island, over six thousand years of human history are presented in a temple city of art and culture. The archaeological museums will be connected with one another at their base level both spatially and thematically by the Archaeological Promenade. This is the contextual bond which will present the cultures of the ancient occidental world in an overall, interdisciplinary display. In a main circuit in the Pergamon Museum the large streams of visitors will be presented the major exhibits of the Berlin museums, i.e. the monumental architecture of the old world. At the same time, these exhibits each continue to be connected spatially with the associated collections. Each building, which also has its own entrance, offers individual visitors a direct, undisturbed, intensive encounter with its collections. The newly constructed James Simon Galerie between the Neues Museum (New Museum) and Kupfergraben (“copper ditch”, the western arm of the Spree) will welcome visitors and distribute them over the museum part of the island. It will be the main entrance to the museums on The Museumsinsel as well as to the main circuit and will offer central service functions such as cafés, a museum shop, a media room and an auditorium, not to mention the exhibition rooms for alternating presentations of the museums. The colonnades around the Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) will be rearranged and the open spaces redesigned and opened for visitors up to the courtyards of the Bode Museum. Technical administrations with libraries and archives, student repositories and restoration shops, etc. will be housed together in the new “Museumshöfe” (“museum courtyards”) being constructed on the other side of the Kupfergraben so as to gain space for infrastructure and service facilities on the island. link : http://www.museumsinsel-berlin.de/flash/index.php Some historical facts: The Museum Island was listed as one of UNESCO's world cultural heritage sites in 1999. The ensemble comprises five individual museums, the construction of which spanned a period of one hundred years - from 1830 (Old Museum) to 1930 (Pergamon Museum). After German reunification, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation assumed responsibility for the museums. Comprehensive restoration work was deemed necessary to prevent further disintegration of the buildings. The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning took on the role of client in a general refurbishment and extension programme estimated to last 20 years. The Museum Island is to be the key location for a concept developed by the Berlin State Museums, in which works of art illustrating the history of mankind over a period of 6,000 years will be on display. The Bode Museum currently houses the Numismatic Collection and Sculpture Collection, while the Pergamon Museum accommodates the three independent collections - the Museum of Islamic Art, the Museum of Near Eastern Antiquities and the Museum of Antiquities. The New Museum, which has stood vacant since the end of the war, is currently being refurbished. As yet, only the Old National Gallery - as the first of the five museums - has been completely restored. An "Archaeological Promenade", created at the level still accommodating the depot and administrative offices today, will form a link between the Bode Museum, the Pergamon Museum, the New Museum and the Old Museum and channel the flow of expected visitors. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation anticipates an annual attendance of four million visitors when restoration work has been completed. By then, the mammoth project will have swallowed one billion Euros. The open spaces at Museum Island will be designed to plans by the Berlin landscape architects Levin Monsigny, who won the open competition in 2001. In accordance the western core area of the Museum Island will become an urban space with carefully bordered edges and calm stone surfaces, while in the eastern area along the River Spree, the green sequence of the Lustgarten, the cathedral garden and the colonnades will present a waterfront with romantic garden images. Unified natural stone furniture and a lighting concept will connect the two sides. Thus the stone flooring of the underground sections of the Archeological Promenade will be marked with transparent points of light and all five buildings individually floodlit with soft lightning. |
Jewish Museum
Jüdisches Museum Berlin (Lindenstraße 9-14 ,10969 Berlin) The Jewish Museum is one of the few examples of deconstructivist architecture in Berlin. Construction took place between 1993 and 1999 to designs by Daniel Libeskind. The exterior walls are marked by ribbons of windows that zig-zag across the zinc-clad façade, oblivious of storeys or rooms. From a bird's eye perspective the ground plan suggests a torn Star of David. Five empty rooms symbolize the rifts torn through German society by the Holocaust. Only one "void" is accessible. Even the course of the passageways in three axes underscores the building as half museum, half memorial. The longest axis leads to the main staircase of the museum and thus to an uncertain tomorrow; the second directs the way to the open air and the Garden of Exile; the third and shortest axis ends in the empty Holocaust tower. Long before the exhibits were mounted, the interest in the building itself led to a huge attendance: 350,000 people visited the empty museum building. The Jewish Museum was planned as an extension of the main Baroque building of the adjacent Berlin Museum. The entrance to this striking new building, which can only be accessed by an underground passageway, is located there. However, the Jewish Museum has been an independent foundation since 1998. The permanent exhibition bears testimony to German Jewish history and culture from its inception to the present day. http://www.juedisches-museum-berlin....aussen/hof.jpg http://www.juedisches-museum-berlin...._vogel_290.jpg http://www.juedisches-museum-berlin....en/fassade.jpg http://www.juedisches-museum-berlin....rafik_engl.jpg Two buildings, a classical Kollegienhaus and a modern structure hailed as an architectural masterpiece, house the exhibitions, collections, and several offices of the Jewish Museum Berlin. The new building is full of artistic expression: the architect Daniel Libeskind named it “Between the Lines” on account of two linear shapes which form its structure. The “Line of Connectedness” expressed in the window design symbolizes the cultural exchange between Jews and non-Jews and the ways in which they influenced each other. The “Line of the Voids” is a series of empty rooms, which runs in a straight but disrupted line through the building. These empty rooms represent the cultural gaps left in Germany after the Holocaust. http://www.juedisches-museum-berlin....ve_290x215.jpg The groundplan has been interpreted in many different ways. Some see it as a lightning bolt striking the city of Berlin. Daniel Libeskind, the architect, likens it to a deconstructed star of David. The Libeskind building is formed of two main lines: the line of connection, tortuous and infinite, symbolises the cultural exchange between Jews and Gentiles and their mutual influences; a second line, straight but broken into discrete fragments, runs through the length of the house - it is the line of the void. |
Anschutz Entertainment Real Estate GmbH will build right next to the new Arena a "Giant Wheel". With 185m it will be Europe's tallest wheel. It will cost 75 million Euros.
http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/540...scaleuput5.jpg |
About the Giant Wheel :nothing original really ...
how is the situation on the "Alexa" site ? New proposal : "Tryphotel" near Alex http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...el_705x600.jpg Actual situation demolition "Palast der Republik" http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...pdr_bigpix.jpg |
some impressions of the new airport BBI
http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/7480/terminalze2.jpg http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/884/vorfeldfi2.jpg |
a nice rendering for the Ostkreuz station:
I think its already uc since a while but Im not entirely sure. http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1022-full.jpg http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1023-full.jpg design for the Berliner Rathaus underground station on the U5 line. http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1000-full.jpg http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1001-full.jpg http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1002-full.jpg http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1003-full.jpg http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1004-full.jpg BBI airport: http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1017-full.jpg http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1018-full.jpg http://www.buenck.fehse.com/projects...-1019-full.jpg |
@ GNU , vielen dank :tup:
A few Q's tough: Ostkreuz : the works have begun near the Lichtenberg side to construct the bridge you can see in the rendering. U5 line :there are 2 different renderings here ; one shows an area below street level the others don't ? BBI : the last rendering looks very much like the new Sudkreuz (former Papestrasse) trainstation |
The Kaufhof Galleria on Alexanderplatz after a thorough renovation:
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ol_foto_02.jpg http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ol_foto_05.jpg http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ol_foto_09.jpg |
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Pictures of the new Suedkreuz station can be found here btw:
http://www.ekunkel.de/Fotos-SK/SK-44/SK-44.html http://www.ekunkel.de/Fotos-SK/SK-43/SK-43.html |
Future park on the grounds of the Palast der Republik
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ark_pdr_gr.jpg |
A never realised project from the 80's : the Berlin M-Bahn
Testride in Berlin in 1989 http://www.berliner-verkehrsseiten.d...hn/M-Bahn1.jpg Where the tracks should be built back then: http://www.berliner-verkehrsseiten.d...reckenplan.jpg Platform in the Gleisdreieck station http://www.berliner-verkehrsseiten.d...recke/mb13.jpg view to the gliding system from the end of the M-Bahn: http://www.berliner-verkehrsseiten.d...mente/mb14.jpg More info on the M-Bahn & Maglev line (Hamburg-Berlin) on pdf: http://www.berliner-verkehrsseiten.d...hn/m-bahn.html |
This time an update about a new park on former railway yards
The Gleisdreieck area will be transformed into one huge park. Location of the area: south of the Potsdamer platz adjacent to the Landwehrkanal http://www.gleisdreieck-dialog.de/ge...m_content=2103 How it used to be in 1902: http://www.gleisdreieck-dialog.de/ge...417&height=491 Changed Railroad intersection in the 20's: http://www.gleisdreieck-dialog.de/ge...450&height=523 planned Autobahnen in 1965: http://www.gleisdreieck-dialog.de/ge...450&height=525 2006 :approved design by Atelier Loidl: http://www.gleisdreieck-dialog.de/ge...450&height=925 http://www.gleisdreieck-dialog.de/ge...50&height=1051 |
New project : Marina Park (Spandauer See)
http://www.nordicon-living.de/_graphik/3mpb/3mpb_lp.jpg http://www.nordicon-living.de/_graph...3mpb_img01.jpg New Project :Floating Houses (Rummelsburger Bucht - Stralau) http://www.wasserstadt.de/images/teas_floating_1.jpg |
Edited : photos no longer visible they are way to large
Entire Rummelsburger Bucht redeveloppement area: http://www.wasserstadt.de/info-cente...Bu_gr_2006.jpg Entire Spandauer See redeveloppement area: http://www.wasserstadt.de/info-cente...au_gr_2006.jpg |
Mediaspree project proposed buildings:
Near "Trias" builing (Jannowitzbruecke) http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...eeUrbanNEU.gif Altes Pumpwerk http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...umpwerkNEU.gif Spreelofts http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...eeloftsNEU.gif Colombus Haus http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...umbus-Haus.jpg Postareal am Ostbahnhof http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...stbahnhofN.gif Quartier im Orange http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...-OrangeNEU.gif GSG hof http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...ischeStrNE.gif Spreespeicher http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...peicherNEU.gif Heeresbaeckerei http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...sbaeckerei.gif Spreeport http://www.mediaspree.de/cms2/filead...reeportNEU.gif |
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That's alot of good looking stuff. and great work finding all of it to show us :cheers:
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Dear Grumpy:
Excuse the silly question, but in the Spreepromenade mock-ups, is that the East Side Gallery wall in the background? |
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btw : this is no silly question ;) |
Utopia from the 30's : Welthauptstadt Germania
http://www.robsacc.nl/ottens/germania-model.png Welthauptstadt ("world capital") Germania was the name Adolf Hitler gave to the projected renewal of Berlin, part of his vision for the future of a Greater German Reich. Albert Speer, chief architect of the Third Reich, produced many of the plans for the rebuilt city of which only a few were realized. Some projects, such as the creation of a great city axis, which included broadening Unter den Linden and placing the Siegessäule in the center, far away from the Reichstag, where it originally stood, succeeded. Besides the stadium built for the Summer Olympics of 1936, almost none of the other buildings planned for Germania were ever built. Berlin was to be reorganized along a central three-mile long avenue. At the north end, Speer planned to build an enormous domed building, based on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The dome of the building would have been impractically large–over seven hundred feet in height and eight hundred feet in diameter, sixteen times as large as the dome of the St. Peter's. At the southern end of the avenue would be an arch based on the Arc de Triumphe in Paris, but again, much larger–almost four hundred feet high, theoretically allowing the Parisian arch to stand in its opening. The outbreak of the war in 1939 caused the decision to postpone construction until after the war, to avoid material demands. The entire north side of what was to become the Große Platz was filled by the Volkshalle. This truly enormous building, the full significance of which has not as yet been completely appreciated, was according to Albert Speer inspired by Hadrian's Pantheon, which Hitler visited privately on May 7, 1938. But Hitler's interest in and admiration for the Pantheon predated this visit, since his sketch of the Volkshalle dates from about 1925. In his book Ein Andered Hitler–Bericht Seines Architekten Erlebniss, Hermann Giesler records a conversation he had with Hitler in the winter of 1939/40, when Hitler was recalling his "Roman Impressionism". "From the time I experienced this building–no description, picture or photograph did it justice–I became interested in its history. [...] For a short while I stood in this space (the rotunda)–what majesty! I gazed at the large open oculus and saw the universe and sensed what had given this space the name Pantheon–God and the world war one." The sketch of the Volkshalle given by Hitler to Speer shows a traditional gabled pronaos supported by ten columns, a shallow rectangular intermediate block and behind it the dome's main building. There was, however, little about Speer's elaboration of the sketch that might be termed Doric, except perhaps for the triglyphs in the entablature, supported by the geminated red granite columns with their egyptianizing palm-leaf capitals, previously employed by Speer in the portico outside Hitler's study on the garden side of the new Reichschancellery. Speer's Volkshalle was to be the capital's most important and impressive building in terms of size and symbolism. Visually, it was to have been the architectural masterpiece of Berlin as the world capital. Its dimensions were so large that it would have dwarfed every other structure in Berlin, include those on the north-south axis itself. The oculus of the building's dome, 46 metres in diameter, would have accommodated the entire rotunda of Hadrian's Pantheon and the dome of the St. Peter's Basilica. The dome of the Volkshalle was to rise from a massive granite podium 315 by 315 metres and 74 metres high, to a total inclusive height of 290 metres. The diameter of the dome, 250 metres, was to be exceeded, much to Speer's annoyance, with 15 metres by that of Giesler's new domed railway station at the end of Munich's east-west axis. The resemblance of the Volkshalle to the Pantheon is far more obvious when their interiors are compared. The large niche (50 metres high by 28 metres wide) at the north end of the Volkshalle was to be surfaced with gold mosaic and to enclose an eagle 24 metres high, beneath which was situated HItler's tribunal. From here he would address 180,000 listeners, some standing in the central round arena, others seated in three concentric tiers of set crowned by one hundred marble pillars, 24 metres high, which rose to meet the base of the coffered ceiling suspended from steel girders sheathed on the exterior with copper. The three concentric tiers of seats enclosing a circular arena 140 metres in diameter owe nothing to the Pantheon but resemble the seating arrangements in Ludwig Ruff's Congress Hall at Nuremberg, which was modeled on the Colosseum. Other featured of the Volkshalle's interior are clearly indebted to Hadrian's Pantheon: the coffered dome, the pillared zone, which here is continuous, except where it flanks the huge niche on the north side. The second zone in the Pantheon, consisting of blind windows with intervening pilasters, is represented in Speer's building by a zone above the pillars consisting of uniform, oblong shallow recesses. The coffered dome rests on this zone. The design and size of the external decoration of this Volkshalle, are all exceptional and call for explanations that do not apply to community halls planned for Nazi fora in other German cities. Hitler's aspirations to world domination, already evident from architectural and decorative featured of the new Reichschancellery, are even more clearly expressed here. External symbols suggest that the domed hall was where Hitler as Herr der Welt would appear before his Herrenvolk: on top of the dome's lantern was an eagle grasping in its claws not the usual swastika but the globe of the Earth. This combination of eagle and globe was well known in imperial Roman iconography, for example, the restorated statue of Claudius holding a ball and eagle in his right hand. The vast dome, on which it rested, as with Hadrian's Pantheon, symbolically represented the vault of the sky spanning Hitler's world empire. The globe on the dome's lantern was enhanced and emphasized by two monumental sculptured by Arno Breker, each 15 metres high, which flanked the north façade of the building: at its west end Atlas supporting the heavens, at its east end Tellus supporting the Earth. Both mythological figured were, according to Speer, chosen by Hitler himself. According to Speer, Hitler believed "that as centuries passed, his huge domes assembly hall would acquire great holy significance and become a hallowed shrine as important to National Socialism as St. Peter's in Rome is to Roman Catholicism. Such cultism was at the root of the entire plan." From Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer, Chapter 11: "The buildings which were intended to frame the future Adolf Hitler Platz lay in the shadow of the great domed hall. But as if Hitler wanted by architecture alone to denigrate the whole process of popular representation, the hall had a volume fifty times greater than the proposed Reichstag building. He had asked me [Speer] to work out the designs for this hall as early as the summer of 1936. On April 20, 1937, his birthday, I gave him the renderings, ground plans, cross sections and a first model of the building. He was delighted and only quarrelled with my having signed the plans: "Developed on the basis of the Führer's ideas." I was the architect, he said, and my contribution to this building must be given greater credit than his sketch of the idea dating from 1925. I stuck to this formula, however, and Hitler was probably gratified at my refusal to claim authorship for this building. Partial models were prepared from the plans and in 1939 a detailed wooden model of the exterior some ten feet high and another model of the interior were made. The floor could be removed in order to test the future effect at eye level. In the course of his many visits to the exhibit, Hitler would unfailingly spend a long time contemplating these two models. He would point triumphantly to them as an idea that must have struck his friends fifteen years ago as a fantastic quirk. "This structure, the greatest assembly hall in the world ever conceived up to that time, consisted of one vast hall that could hold between one hundred fifty and one hundred eighty thousand people standing. In spite of Hitler's negative attitude toward Himmler's and Rosenberg's mystical notions, the hall was essentially a place of worship. The idea was that over the course of centuries, by tradition and venerability, it would acquire an importance similar to the of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome has for Catholic Christendom. Without some such essentially pseudo-religious background the expenditure for Hitler's central building would have been pointless and incomprehensible. "The round interior was to have the almost inconceivable diameter of eight hundred and twenty five feet. The huge dome was to begin its slightly parabolic curve as a height of three hundred and twenty three feet and rise to a height of seven hundred and twenty six feet. "In a sense the Pantheon in Rome had served as our model. The Berlin dome was also to contain a round opening for light, but this opening alone would be one hundred and fifty two feet in diameter, larger than the entire dome of the Pantheon (142 feet) and of St. Peter's Basilica (145 feet). The interior would contain siteen times the volume of St. Peter's Basilica. "The interior appointments were to be as simple as possible. Circling an area four hundred sixty two feet in diameter, a three tier gallery rose to a height of one hundred feet. A circle of one hundred rectangular marble pillars, still almost on a human scale, for they were only eighty feet high, was broken by a recess opposite the entrance. This recess was one hundred and sixty five feet high and ninety two feet wide and was to be clad at the rear in gold mosaic. In front of it, on a marble pedestal forty six feet in height, perched the hall's single sculptural feature: a gilded German eagle with a swastika in its claws. This symbol of sovereignty might be said to be the very fountainhead of Hitler's grand boulevard. Beneath this symbol would be the podium for the Leader of the nation; from this spot he would deliver his messages to the peoples of his future empire. I tried to give this spot suitable emphasis, but here the fatal flaw of architecture that has lost all sense of proportion was revealed. Under that vast dome Hitler dwindled to an optical zero. "From the outside the dome would have loomed against the sky like some green mountain, for it was to be roofed with patinated plates of copper. At its peak we planned a skylight turret one hundred and thirty two feet high, of the lightest possible metal construction. The turret would be crowned by an eagle with swastika. "Optically, the mass of the dome was to have been set off by a series of pillars sixty six feet high. I thought this effect would bring things back to scale, undoubtedly a vain hope. The mountainous dome rested upon a granite edifice two hundred and forty four feet high with sides ten hundred and forty feet long. A delicate frieze, four clustered, fluted pillars on each of the four corners and a colonnade along the front facing the square were to dramatize the size of the enormous cube. Two sculptures each fifty feet high would flank the colonnade. Hitler had already decided on the subjects of these sculptures when we were preparing our first sketches of the building. One would represent Atlas bearing the vault of the heavens, the other Tellus supporting the globe of the world. The spheres representing sky and earth were to be enamel coated with constellations and continents traced in gold. "The volumne of this structure amounted to almost 27.5 million cubic yards; the capital in Washington, D.C., would have been contained many times in such a mass. These were dimensions of an inflationary sort. "Yet the hall was by no means an insane project, which could in fact never be executed. Our plans did not belong to that super grandiose category envisioned by Claude Nicolas Ledoux as the swan song of the Bourbon dynasty of France, or by Etienne L. Boullée to glorify the Revolution, projects which were never meant to be carried out. Their scale, however, was by no means vaster than Hitler's. But we were seriously going ahead with our plans. As early as 1939 many old buildings in the vicinity of the Reichstag were razed to make room for our Great Hall and the other buildings that were to surround the future Adolf Hitler Platz. The characters of the underlying soil was studies. Detailed drawings were prepared and models built. Millions of marks were spend on granite for the exterior. Nor were the purchases confined to Germany. Despite the shortage of foreign exchange, Hitler had orders placed with quarries in southern Sweden and Finland. Like all the other edifices on Hitler's long grand boulevard, the Great Hall was also scheduled to be completed in eleven years, by 1950. Since the hall would take longer to build than all the rest, the ceremonial cornerstone laying was set for 1940. "Technically, there was no special problem in constructing a dome over eight hundred feet in diameter. The bridge buildings of the thirties had no difficulty with similar spans of steel or reinforced concrete. Leading German engineers had even calculated that it would be possible to build a massive vault with such a span. In keeping with my Theory of Ruin Value I would rather have eschewed the use of stell; but in this case Hitler expressed doubts. "You know, an aerial bomb might strike the dome and damaaged the vaulting. If there were danger of collapse, how would you go about making repairs?" "He was right and we therefore had a steel skeleton constructed, from which the inner shell of the dome would be suspended. The walls, however, were to be of solid stone like the Nuremberg buildings. Their weight, along with that of the dome, would exert tremendous pressure and would demand an enormous concrete footing, which would have had a content of 3.9 million cubic yards. According to our calculations, this would sink only a few centimetres into the sandy soil; but to test this, a sample section was built near Berlin. Except for drawings and photographs of models, it is the only thing that has remained of the projected structure. "In the course of the planning I had gone to see St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It was rather dashing for me to realize that its size had little to do with the impression it creates. In work on such a scale, I saw, effectiveness is no longer proportionate to the size of the building. I began to be afraid that our Great Hall would turn out disappointingly. "Ministerial Councillor Knipfer, who was in charge of air-raid protection in the Reich Air Ministry, had heard rumours about this gigantic structure. He had just issued directives providing that all future buildings be as widely dispersed as possible in order to diminish the effect of air raids. Now, here in the centre of the city and of the Reich, a building was to be erected, which would tower above low clouds and act as an ideal navigational guide to enemy bombers. It would be virtually a signpost for the government centre. I mentioned these considerations to Hitler. But he was sanguine. "Göring has assured me, that no enemy plan will enter Germany. We will not let that sort of thing stand in the way of our plans." "Hitler was obsessed with the idea for this dome building. We had already drawn up our designs when he heard that the Soviet Union was also planning an enormous assembly building in Moscow in honour of Lenin. He was deeply irked, feeling himself cheated of the glory of building the tallest monumental structure in the world. Along with this was an intense chagrin that he could not make Stalin stop by a simple command. But he finally consoled himself with the thought that his building would remain unique. "What does one skyscraper more or less amount to, a little higher or a little lower. The great thing about our building will be the dome!" After the war with the Soviet Union had begun, I now and then saw evidence that the idea of Moscow's rival building had preyed on Hitler's mind more than he had been willing to admit. "The domed hall was to be surrounded on three sides by water, which would reflect it and enhance its effect. For this purpose we intended to widen the Spree river into a kind of lake. One day in early summer of 1939, he pointed to the German eagle with the swastika in its claws, which was to crown the dome nine hundred fifty seven feet in the air. "That has to be changed. Instead of the swastika, the eagle is to be perched above the globe. To crown this greatest building in the world the eagle must stand above the globe." There are photos of the models in which this revision is plainly to be seen. "A few months later the Second World War began. As late as May 8, 1943, Joseph Goebbels noted in his diary: "The Führer expresses his unshakable conviction that the Reich will one day rule all of Europe. We will have to survive a great many conflicts, but they will doubtless lead to the most glorious triumphs. And from then on the road to world domination is practically spread out before us. For whoever rules Europe will be able to seize the leadership of the world." |
Olympic Stadium - A well-rounded affair
http://www.olympiastadion-berlin.de/...ics/0604-5.jpg pictures from inside: http://www.olympiastadion-berlin.de/.../bild11jpg.jpg http://www.olympiastadion-berlin.de/.../bild26jpg.jpg http://www.olympiastadion-berlin.de/...cs/ZS05-12.jpg lots more here: http://www.olympiastadion-berlin.de/index.php?id=281 |
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Thanks for this amazing thread Grumpy. Your passion for Berlin shines through. It's such an exciting city with so many excellent projects underway. I'm particularly excited by the new airport. Is the plan for the 185m wheel serious? I hope so. Now if only the city could ditch its' socialist government and become more of a business/economic centre!
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They just re-elected their Socialist government for another term.
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When there more news about the BBI airport I certainly post it here. The Wheel is going to be built. About politics: sorry not my cup of tea Lets focus on a remarkable place : ALEXANDERPLATZ the actual location in 1652: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...rd_800x600.gif 1804 , then called Parade Platz: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...er_716x432.jpg 1882: the trainstation is built http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...to_800x600.jpg 1906: the cattle market moved out towards the new built Zentralviehhof http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...to_800x343.jpg 1920: from above (coloured in pink): http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...tb_800x600.jpg 1928: first plans to remodell the square by M.Wagner: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ll_800x600.jpg 1930: BVG plans for the urban transport lines: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ex_800x539.gif 1945: left in ruins http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...rh_800x438.jpg 1964: new plans to built a better square... http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...er_800x600.jpg 1969: showing urban transport below http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ng_978x600.gif 1985: summer in the city: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...en_525x600.jpg 2002: winter in the city: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ex_460x180.jpg 2003: plans for several skyscrapers: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ng_433x600.gif 2006: no life at all... http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...06_450x600.jpg |
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http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...inks_gross.jpghttp://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...chts_gross.jpg A 3-D simulation of the new airport extended to the maximum degree to handle up to 40 million passengers (expansion and extension stages in blue). The terminal will have more than 16 jetways in the initial version according to current planning. Plans have also been drawn up to provide about ten walk boarding positions. In the maximum extension version, the pier will be lengthened to 740 m, additional walk boarding positions will be built, two satellite terminals will be constructed in the midfield area and additional apron areas will be built. http://www.berlin-airport.de/bbi/dir...tseitr_pop.jpg A 3-D simulation of the new airport with a view of the terminal from the apron area. The railway lines to the airport railway station run underground and there are four long-distance platforms and two local rail service platforms. Journey times to Berlin’s main station at Lehrter Bahnhof are just about 20 minutes. Special link roads to BBI provide excellent connections to the motorway and main road systems. http://www.berlin-airport.de/bbi/dir...shafen_pop.jpg A 3-D simulation of the new airport extended to the maximum degree to handle up to 40 million passengers. The central terminal combines all types of transport and flights under its “one roof concept”. Because of its location the midfield terminal with its six floors provides short distances to the runways and it is easy to reach by road or rail. http://www.berlin-airport.de/bbi/dir...seitig_pop.jpg Virtual view of the future: The well-lit terminal of the new capital city Berlin Brandenburg International Airport BBI in Berlin-Schönefeld. http://www.berlin-airport.de/bbi/dir..._innen_pop.jpg |
Refurbisment of the Leipziger Strasse (no final plan yet)
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...urm600x400.jpg |
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@Grumpy
Thanks for the info. Is the reconstruction of the old Stadtschloss definitely underway now? That building will improve the central area so much. I love to see old grandeur being restored like that. :) |
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A small overview: 192 Meter long and 116 Meter wide , 1.210 rooms , 23.800 square metres. |
^ All very interesting.... but is it under construction already? That's what I want to know. :)
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A park is already approved which can be seen earlier in this thread. |
^ OK thanks. Have they already started the demolition of the Palast der Republik?
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http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...pdr_bigpix.jpg |
^ Good news. :tup:
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PS: The cleaned-up Bode Museum looks beautiful. |
^^ the Montbijou bridge is a re-creation of the old pedestrian bridge.
The entire Museumsinsel is going through a new phase until 2012(earlier post in this thread) http://img52.echo.cx/img52/6889/museumsinselvr0xe.jpg |
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