"Ghosts of Berlin" Sit-down Chat

[CANCELED]: An examination about a few of the eras this book covers, and why they matter for some of the remaining monuments still in existence around Berlin...

Ghosts of Berlin (1998)

Sorry, this post was a misnomer, and I will be changing it soon.

"The Wall Jumper," A Short Musing

Wall as Obstacle

We were given the chance to read a short fictional story about "wall-torn" Germany as part of the study abroad class. In this, we've been asked to fulfill a short analysis/argument of the stories herein. The Book is titled "The Wall Jumper" by Peter Schneider.

"The Wall Jumper" book cover (1983)

Understanding what happened those twenty-one years ago in Berlin will most certainly help you understand the current conditions of the city in today's iteration. The city was defined by its wall, and so are the stories in this book. The narrator is nameless, and the stories within which he tells are somewhat nameless too. That is, they are fictional folklore about the wall, something used by the virtual prisoners of the time (on both sides of the wall) to help raise hope and or awareness that something may be getting done and that they as a unified people (or not) could be working towards something better outside the bounds of the wall itself. My opinions stem forth from an idea raised early in the book about a man who makes it his mission to jump the wall as often as he can get away with. The story treated as folklore beguiles me in a way I don't understand. Why such a story would be bothered to be passed around as truth and looked on as hope doesn't quite "fit the bill" in my opinion for the many other folklore stories you'd find throughout the rest of the book.

Garnered on in this manner and even split amongst the other stories within the book, the fellow, "Kabe" who is even captured at one point and eventually released, continues jumping the wall. His reason, when speculated on by the narrator is only concluded as a derangement, or extreme fascination of the wall, which might have very well been a real case for a good deal many peoples at the time. This I must give merit for; the extreme fascination with the wall could have risen up out of fear of being bounded. For some, the wall was merely an obstacle waiting to be crossed and for the character Kabe I surmise, his crossings were most likely an issue of defiance. The wall at large was a system designed to keep those in the eastern part of Berlin out of the western part, and indeed to keep the whole of Germany out of West Berlin too; West Berlin for all intents and purposes was the only democratic oasis in all of communistic Germany. The wall completely surrounded West Berlin making it like a small island of democracy, yet those within weren't looking to escape (though some did), but most beyond that wall in the greater Germany, were looking to get in away from an oppressive tyranny. It was a wall designed to keep people out, and Kabe, as strange a case it may be, made his way in, and back out again on multiple occasions.

Last I figured, those wanting to get into West Berlin stayed there, not wanting to cross back. This story as folklore, or at least treated like a real event leads me to believe it was simply a fabrication of the author and perhaps not a real folklore myth. It is missing a few elements of myth-making. There are four functions of myths that I'd like to outline: (1) Mystical, -or serving somehow to make one appreciate the fact one participates in the same issues that the myth brings up. (2) Explanatory, -the myth needs to be able to address something grounded in the real, in this case the wall serves this function. (3) Normative, -this means a valid reason to support the myth; the myth needs to be self contained so that it makes sense. Kabe is jumping the wall because others cannot. And finally, (4) guidance, -This is where this myth falls short in my opinion. The guidance requirement of myths is there to "show you the way," but in this case, "the way" is a bit inaccessible for more interested persons, and is very much a fatal experience or accident just waiting to happen. If this story really did get passed along, I much infer that people didn't seriously consider it, not out of contempt against it, but simply because it made a joke out of something people dealt with seriously every day. Why would a crazed mad man jump the wall and then return, over fourteen times! That's not something I want to even try or participate in; that's crazy! Therefore I have no problem dismissing it, and so too I think others did the same.

Occupied and Preoccupied

My my, what busy lot we've all been here on the Tech-Berlin Study Abroad Trip. We've been to so many places since my last post, I feel like some of the memories are things I'm pulling out of my childhood memory already. There are just too many things to see here in Germany!

I'll walk you back from over 10 days ago (where my last post left off) and pick up from the following day (day 6, Tuesday June 15)

Journey to Potsdam

Potsdam for me was the quintessential northern European town. It was very quaint, and felt surprisingly extensive. Every street looked like the scene below:

Potsdam city block

The "town" is only a ~45 minute train-ride from Berlin, and feels so much further. There are plenty of people here (evidenced by the masses of tourists [and locals alike] flooding the streets). There is plenty to see and eat, with enough history to be a world famous city all itself.

Potsdam city block

Of course, one of the main reasons we were even in Potsdam was to see some of its jewels; architectural jewels!

Sanssouci Palace and Gardens (1747)

The view from the picture above was simply astounding, and to be honest I didn't see it coming. Basically, you get to see this view after turning a sharp corner on a small paved street with no signs. At first, I thought it was some sort of backdrop; the axis here is clear and evident, and the hierarchy of structures is set by heights in landscape. In contemporary architecture we don't normally deal with such clear-cut plans, so seeing something like this in person is a nice breath of fresh air. When I think back to the states, it's this type of landscaping that most home owners would like. Of course, perhaps not on this scale, but a grove of trees leading up to a door, and a main pathway along a straight axis towards the entry is something of a dull game for me and not normally my preference however, the people (especially in the South) crave this sort of thing. Yes it's beautiful to gaze on, but too predictable and of the ordinary. I bet you can guess what happens to the path around the fountain?

This arbor is for my dad. Needless to say though, thousands of people make gardening their hobby, and I just thought seeing something as intricate as this arbor would inspire a similar creation somewhere in the states.

I've never been a big fan of Baroque or Rococo style architecture simply because it was always to "busy" for me. Too much ornamentation (which is the point of Rococo), and too many basic shapes getting covered up by it. But when you turn the form work into a lattice like the arbor below, it becomes something of a diamond in the rough for me. I admired this construction for a good 20 minutes:

Sanssouci Palace Arbor (1747)

Sanssouci Palace Arbor (1747)

Sanssouci Palace Arbor (1747)

The rear of the palace was a bit more classical, taking cues from the Romans. Using a flared version of the Corinthian column and stone railings to cap it off, the courtyard feeling was very elegant, and probably my favorite part of the palace.

Sanssouci Palace and Gardens (1747) (rear)

Sanssouci Palace and Gardens (1747) (rear)

Following that same fountain I pointed out in the first shot of the palace, you hang a left and walk down a ways along the great east-west axis until you see this next behemoth. The approach doesn't catch you off guard at first, only because the thing is set so far back from the entry steps, you only see the towers, -somewhat of an oversight in my eyes. It's called the Orangerie Palace and was built 117 years later after the Sanssouci Palace above. You'd think they'd stick to the same theme right? -Naw, they went for a bit of their own flare. More neo-classicist I think.

Sanssouci Orangerie Palace (1864)

Sanssouci Orangerie Palace (1864)

I felt bad about not keeping up with the blog, so I uploaded the video I took of this area so you can get a good idea about the connections this place makes. Also note the huge lobby space on either side for the guests.

Next up while we were in Potsdam, was to visit our first castle. Although this too would fall short from that definition. This one still felt more like a palace only with thicker walls, and turret like towers.

Babelsberg Palace (1833)

It still felt like a palace because once you entered the place, you immediately think "home," -or at least I did. Please enjoy these interior shots, because our tour guide forgot to tell us we weren't allowed to take any photos once inside and it wasn't until we made it to the second floor that some of the other curators stopped us from taking any more. So, these may be some of the few interior shots of the place you may not be able to find elsewhere.

Babelsberg Palace (1833)

Babelsberg Palace (1833)

As we would come to find out later, this was one of the few genuine places we'd visit in all of Germany. This structure is still its original self, and it was very evident by the paint chipping off and reinforced floor boards, that it was in a delicate state. Still though, the place looked cool in the sense it indeed was a fortified structure overlooking the river below.

Babelsberg Palace (1833)

Russians: 1, Germans: 0

We began our war history part of Germany by walking through the great Tier Garten to reach this communist monument. Right along the main stretch leading up to the Brandenburg Gate itself, this monument stands at a very omniscient position. The statue of the Russian soldier atop it can be seen stretching out his arm in a very stoic manner. It's as if, the German people were to bow down in front of this commanding demeanor. The monument built in 1945 was meant to remind the Germans who exactly saved them from their Nazi tyranny. Every column contains a set of Russian sayings... -in Russian. 'Tis a very imposing structure.

Soviet War Memorial (1945)

Up next we had a chance to view the Victory Column, which apparently was moved from its original locale. Of course, like many old structures in Europe, it too had the fake image on canvas draped over the scaffolding. Oh well, maybe next time.

Victory Column (1873)

To end our history day, we took a stroll to the biggest palace in Berlin. the Schloss Charlottenberg Palace. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any interior photos, but the outside was somewhat impressive:

Schloss Charlottenberg Palace (1701-1785)

Our class may have ended with the Charlottenberg Palace, but not my hunger! A few of us made our way to the largest department store in Berlin: the KaDeWe. It's essentially a mall, but actually a department store like how they used to be over in the States back in the 30's before the war. The place is 8 levels (I think) of shopping with all kinds of things. They have a whole floor dedicated to nothing but gourmet foods. -Talk about delicious looking! At the top is one big gourmet buffet and bar. Needless to say, I had a chance to grab my share, and it was quite delicious!

Delicious food from the top of the KaDeWa Department Store (1907)

As a gamer I found the following somewhat amusing:

For the "Garten" enthusiast!

Getting Along

We made our way the following day to some of the prominent embassies here in Berlin. By now, we were getting used to the subway system or U-Bahn as it's called around here. We use it to get almost anywhere we want, and it's all based on a honor system or sorts, which is funny because here in Germany you might find some milder non-honor based scenarios where for example you have to put a coin in to use a shopping cart (and retrieve it when you lock it back).

Making our way to the Nordic Embassies

First Embassy we visited was not necessarily an embassy at all, but a political party headquarters. The CDU, or "Christian Democratic Union" of Germany's headquarters is an interesting spectacle. I'd post more images, but I'm reaching the maximum limit now I think. It's a double layer building where the interior skin is nothing like the exterior shape. And because of the transparency of the glass, you glance through to see the distant egg-like/ship hull-like shape, which also pokes out of the roof of the outer glass shell. This makes for a cool transition, but once you get inside, you begin to see what the functional part of the design is.

Close-up of the CDU headquarters in Berlin exterior (2000)

Atrium space of the CDU headquarters (2000)

Along our way to the Nordic embassies complex we passed by the Mexican embassy, which showed off a pretty interesting facade you can't ignore. Between the curving slits are windows which are what you'd expect, but the flowing curve is made by all straight pieces, making a cool curvilinear effect. We didn't get a chance to actually go into the building though.

The Mexican Embassy (2000)

Finally reaching the Nordic Embassy Complex, we almost knew it on site it was something we were looking forward to seeing. I say complex because five Nordic countries' embassies are all located here within separate buildings separated by a closed plaza and water. The layout of it actually is in the general order the actual geography of the countries are in relation to one another, and the water simulates the seas that separate them. The front wasn't as noticeable as the rear, see below:

Back wall of the Nordic Embassies Complex (1999)

The rear comes off as a green snake winding around a sharp street corner sitting somewhat far in from the road. I think it's something you either love or hate. I myself after examining it for a while, and walking along the length of, I found I couldn't enjoy it that much. I appreciated it for what it was, but the design didn't really appeal to me; too rigid I suppose. The color might have thrown me off too I suppose.

before we dove in to the Nordic embassy, we had to kill some time before the tour, so we walked around a bit and stumbled onto the Saudi Arabia embassy which was quite impressive in its own right. The level of "iron work" or in this case, steel-work and glass was pretty eye-catching. Very shiny, and I like how they included the Farci script around the frame for the entrance.

Saudi Arabian Embassy (2008)

Let the Nordic Embassy tour begin! Well, the plaza was pretty cool. We actually weren't allowed to enter any of the separate embassy buildings expect for the lobby building and the Norwegian Embassy (because our guide was a Norwegian intern there). In fact, she actually hadn't been in some of the other embassies herself either.

Anyhow, the one that stood out the most to me was the Norwegian embassy anyway because of the huge pillar in front of it. Louisiana Tech actually had a principal from the architectural firm who designed this embassy come and talk to us before earlier in the year, and it was quite fulfilling to finally see the building in person. The stone is one complete piece, unbroken and completely solid. It was cut from the side of a mountain. I can't find, nor do I remember the type of stone it was, but very impressive nonetheless.

Norwegian Embassy (1999) (Nordic Embassies Complex)

Lake within the Nordic Embassies Complex (1999)

Finland Embassy within the Nordic Embassies Complex (1999)

I can say something cool about the Icelandic Embassy: The stone used on the facade is super, super smooth and is made from a special stone only found in Iceland. Such a rare stone in fact it is supposed to be illegal to use as a building material; I suppose the government is above that rule though.

Iceland Embassy within the Nordic Embassies Complex (1999)

And with that I'll wrap up this super extended blog post so you may get on with more important things. More to come soon though; There's still all of Southern Germany to explore!

Thanks for reading,

-Riven

The Bold & the Beautiful

Face Mask

I've got some serious catching up to do; let me begin from last Friday (June 11, 2010)...

We woke up bright and early to go visit the DG Bank building by Frank Gehry, an eccentric US architect known for his radical forms around the world, but here he definitely had to conserve himself , at least for the facade. The facade comes off as somewhat standard and quite reserved, but peering into the building reveals what Mr. Gehry really wanted to do all along...

DG Bank Facade (Gehry, 1995)

DG Bank [crazy] Interior (Gehry, 1995)

Immediately afterward, we left that building to head right next door to the Academy of Arts school. It too had somewhat of a plain facade, (due to the the rigorous code for the Berlin Brandenburg gate plaza area). None of the building facades were allowed to "outshine" the gate itself, therefore, most of them use neutral colors for their materials, and don't go off the deep end with form, (at least, not for the outside).

Academy of Arts interior (Behnisch, 2005)

What was interesting to me about this interior was the academy's front lobby space, which more or less was a great funnel as it slowly rose itself along an incline from the front threshold. The handicap access however, was placed around the main elevator shaft abutting up with the concrete exterior wall. The handrail just happened to be there denoting the use of the corridor-like gap. It was a nice transition of required function without overtly redirecting the form to show it. Now I suppose that's a pretty mundane fact to focus on in regards to the above picture, which I must say was just breath-taking. Looking into Behnisch's design, is like peering into some kind of concept art almost. I'm not a photographer, but I tried my best to frame the stairwells and get the point across. Moving on...


Solitude & Amplitude

Next up, nearly within a stone's throw from our apartments, we walked over to the 2005 Holocaust Memorial by Peter Eisenman. It is about 4.7 Acres of gigantic and small pillars of smooth, shiny concrete. Your first impression is the immensity of them all, and then you figure out, that the slope of their rising contour doesn't match the ground below, making them uneven and very tall in some places. Of course, once we were told this was a holocaust memorial, the pieces began to fall in place.

Holocaust Memorial (Eisenman, 2005)

The whole thing is very abstract; there are no names written anywhere, and the cold stare of the stones comes off as somewhat intimidating as you venture through. Like lines of fallen victims looking down upon you while you walk through their grave. At the end of it, you definitely feel almost a sense of guilt for the atrocities committed then. Of, course, there are no actual bodies buried here, only concrete pillars, nothing more. This is a monument you won't forget after visiting.

Holocaust Memorial (Eisenman, 2005)

Here comes the amplitudal part: We made our way for lunch to the Sony Center, which is a large intense entertainment space part of PotsdamerPlatz (Platz=Plaza). Sony bought up the land and hired architect Helmut Jahn to design their European headquarters; it was completed in 2000. The most prominent feature about the center is the awesomely engineered tent-like roof capping the open space overhead. It felt like some kind whirlwind of activity, the way the tent somehow funnels down a certain distance below the roof line makes you feel swept up in it all, and you didn't feel exposed to the elements, but yet gaining all the benefits.

Sony Center (Jahn, 2000)


Sony Center (Jahn, 2000)

We had the chance that day also to go visit and indeed receive an extensive tour of the Berlin Philharmonie by Hans Scharoun (completed in 1963). The building exterior certainly was a blast from the sixties, but once we walked in, the sentimet was quite different. Albeit, the lobby spaces were still a bit indicative of the time in which they were built, some of the forms were just too intriguing to ignore. The structural columns rising up to the angled ceiling and meeting in V-shapes on the floor remindng me of bridge building techniques however, as we learned in the tour, the theme was that taken from the ship building industry, with round windows, or "portholes" for viewing, and the layout of the concert halls themselves took several cues of parts of a ship.

Entering the main concert hall made this idea somewhat self-evident as you gazed upon the central stage in the round. The ceiling itself was noteworthy for it's seemingly chaotic flow of overlaps and folds to direct the sound in fantastical arrays, -or so we were told; we actually didn't get a chance to hear any music in this hall, just the non-echo of our voices and knick-knacks clanking and clicking. There are many more things that could be said about this, but for the sake of your time and mine, I'll move along. However, I will leave you with one image to let you mull over the design itself...

Berlin Philharmonie (Scharoun, 1963)

On our way towards the end of our day, we happend across a poster promoting every childs favorite builder, erm... I mean, Baumeister!

Bob der Baumeister

And finally before our wonderful Freitag was over, we had a chance to pass through a random department store, where we happened across an awesome internal steel and glass shape. It was a cool way to split floors and create interest where before they not have been any. Somehow this void added more to the space than it took away, and the light effects across the surface shining rom automated concert lights made for some cool affects, and a way to catch your eye easily.

Cool department store funnel

What surprised me the most is after realizing the funnel was opened from the top to the public, the whole thing, which led down to a small pit, wasn't filled with trash. I figured it would have filled up from folks deciding to throw their waste down it, but because there didn't seem to be any visible way to reach down there for anything, lest you repel, I guess Europeans are very clean-thinking people.

Cool department store funnel

Last but not least for the day (not in the order of visiting though), was the Linkstrasse residential building complex. Somewhat well designed, and intriguingly complex with many material color tones, and shapes, it offered a bit of contrast to the standard square steel and glass construction surrounding it.

Linkstrasse Residential building

So Fake, It's Real!

I'll be brief with this section, but I thought it worthy to point out: We had the opportunity the following Monday to bgin our history lessons, while visiting several classical renovated structures of yore. But some of them did not come across as real. One most notably was the Gendarmenmarkt Concert Hall by Shinkel (we visited a lot of his buildings). The main whole of it was bombed during WWII, leaving only the foundation as a sustainable remainder of its existence. The German government thought it a wonderful idea to reconstruct it in all it's wonderful glory, but they decided they would spare the materials and go solely for form. -This was a lesson in what not to do, as you might guess, they actually pained score lines on the floor representing tiles, and even painted the marbling in what a marble stone should give off. The stone busts hanging on the walls were only tin-metal, and any of the other marbling was also painted on. Nevertheless, it did seem like they used real building materials for the exterior of the buiding, as seen below, and why I might have been excited going to see it at first, before realising the treachery within. Oh, well; lesson learned.

Gendarmenmarkt Concert Hall (Shinkel, 1821)

One other peculiar habit of the Germans, (and perhaps elsewhere) are the fact that they don't allow their scaffolding to be exposed when constructing or working on a building. The one you see below is covered in a giant canvas with a super-graphic of the building facade beneath it. This meathod leaves the building from remaining an eyesore why under construction. -Also note how the ad for te building even get's a canvas shadow to go along with it. It took me two glances to realize what I was looking at too.

Canvased Building

Grandiose
The surrounding platz of the Gendarmenmarkt area: Regardd as one of the more beautiful Plazas, and not but 3 blocks from our apartments!

Gendarmenmarkt Area (1705-1821)

Another highlight of last Monday was the Friedrichswerder Church, now a museum that was also bombed in WWII, but survived for the most part, but not after a bit of renovation. See below:

Friedrichswerder Church (Shinkel, 1831)


Friedrichswerder Church (Shinkel, 1831)


Friedrichswerder Church (Shinkel, 1831)

Gourmet

When I think Gourmet, I think delicious, don't you? Well, let me add a bit of spice in that imagery, by pointing to an architectural equivalent of what I consider gourmet.

Take this old fabricated steel I-beam Column for example. The attention to detail to make this column, and indeed the whole colonnade Ionic out of steel blows my mind, and really makes me stop to appreciate the kind of craftsmanship at the time, required to make such a feature. I'm guessing it was built sometime in the 20's or 30's.

A detailed old riveted column

Now If you didn't catch the fact, I missed my weekend, well let me just say it was quite the leisurely one. I had made plans, but those always seem to fall through when everyone else has plans too. So, I relaxed for the most part and ate at some fancy restaurants.

A French Kidney + Mushroom meal


A German broiled chicken

So, all-in-all the trip has been pretty exciting, and I have even more places to talk about that I just don't have the time for at the moment, so because I'm still behind, even after this post, expect another one very soon, whenever I can.

As always, thanks for reading!
-Riven