beyond your map

Le Corbusier addressed post-war housing shortages in Europe by designing large-scale, communal residences. The Unite d'Habitation in Marseilles inspired similar projects, including the Corbusierhaus in Berlin, completed in 1959. As part of the International Building Exhibition of 1957, it mirrored the Marseilles Unite closely. Amidst dense living conditions, Corbusierhaus incorporated communal spaces like a kindergarten, medical facility, recreational areas, and a garden—a microcosm fostering community within. It aimed to modernize Germany after World War II, featuring a neutral aesthetic with beton-brut concrete. While similar to previous Unite designs, Corbusierhaus had larger dwelling units due to German building code restrictions. Despite slight differences, it remains a monolithic icon of Le Corbusier's modern architecture.

The House of the World's Cultures (HKW) is Germany's premier hub for international contemporary arts, emphasizing non-European cultures. Situated in Tiergarten park, it was initially the Kongresshalle, a U.S. gift designed by Hugh Stubbins in 1957. John F. Kennedy spoke here in 1963. After a roof collapse in 1980, it was rebuilt and reopened in 1987. Locally called the "Schwangere Auster" (pregnant oyster), it features Henry Moore's Large Divided Oval: Butterfly (1985-86) sculpture weighing nearly nine tons. The HKW is recognized as a cultural "lighthouse" and receives federal funding.

Café Moskau, designed in 1959 by an architect collective, was a GDR-era specialty restaurant showcasing Soviet culinary delights. Located at Karl-Marx-Allee 34 in Berlin, it's an iconic symbol of GDR architecture. Protected under Berlin's monument preservation law, it reopened as an event venue in 2000. Managed by Lisa Wege and Katajun Fakhoury since March 2012, the café has no affiliations with Russia and, as of February 28th, 2023, expresses solidarity with Ukraine by lighting up in blue and yellow.

St. Agnes Church, designed by Werner Duttmann in 1967, became an exhibition center for emerging artists in 2013. Originally Catholic, it was leased to the Evangelical Free Church before being bought by St. Agnes property management in 2011. The church, with a unique cubic design, features slit windows for natural light and a freestanding Campanile bell tower. After facing financial challenges and declining church membership, it was leased to art gallery Johann Konig in 2005, transforming it into a space for rotating art exhibitions. The building retains its historical and architectural significance.

Hans Maria Wingler, inspired by Mies van der Rohe's New National Gallery commission, asked Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius to design a building for the Bauhaus Archive. Gropius proposed an H-formation with shed roofs on a slope in Darmstadt. Despite Wingler's approval, political issues prevented the project. However, during a visit to Berlin, Gropius garnered the interest of building Senator Rolf Schwedler in the archive project.

This project explores the inherent instability of seemingly rational systems, exemplified by a grid structure, and its potential dissolution over time. The design features 2,711 concrete pillars forming a grid, with variable heights and spaces, creating a multilayered experience. The interaction between undulating grids introduces a zone of instability, reflecting on both site topography and the memorial's top plane. This divergence signifies a temporal difference, fostering contemplation and serving as a place of memory and loss related to the Holocaust. The monument, void of a clear goal or endpoint, emphasizes the impossibility of understanding the Holocaust and disconnects the time of experience from the monument's duration.

In 1987, Berlin sought an expansion for the closed 1938 Jewish Museum, and Daniel Libeskind's radical design won in 1988. Completed in 1999 and opened in 2001, the extension aimed to restore Jewish presence in Berlin post-WWII. Abstracted from a stretched Star of David, the form symbolizes historical events and creates a zig-zag promenade. Visitors enter through the original museum, experiencing a narrative of Jewish history, emigration, and the Holocaust. Libeskind's design serves as an emotional and symbolic expression of the Holocaust's impact on Jewish culture and Berlin, emphasizing absence, emptiness, and invisibility.

Constructed between 1974 and 1978, the Czechoslovakian embassy in East Berlin, designed by Vera and Vladimir Machonin in collaboration with Klaus Patzmann, stands as a prominent example of brutalist architecture. Inaugurated in February 1979, the building features a square floor plan with a side length of 48 meters. The first floor extends beyond the ground floor, creating a floating effect. Angularly bent window bands with dark mirroring give the structure a futuristic appearance, often likened to a UFO. The interior retains its original 1970s style, including red and orange artificial leather armchairs and lighting fixtures specifically designed for the building. Despite the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992, the Czech Republic retained the property, while the Slovak Embassy relocated to Friedrichstrasse 60.

Built in 1871 as a neoclassical palace, the Swiss Embassy in Berlin Mitte became a landmark in 1919. Surviving historical disruptions, including World War II and the Berlin Wall's construction in 1961, it gained central importance after German reunification in 1989. The east wing extension, designed to complement the palace, stands as a separate yet connected structure, housing diplomatic services and featuring a harmonious exterior with Helmut Federle's unique framing artwork on the west façade. The artwork, a raw cement relief, symbolizes the memory of temporal durations, integrating with the building's architecture.

The prominent feature of this building is an 18-meter-high entrance facade, comprising 40 partly inclined pillars in white concrete with marble chippings. These pillars, exhibiting a rough bush-hammered finish, are framed by a concrete structure on the top and sides. Behind this layer, a glass facade extends the full height of the building, providing views into the interior. Upon entering, visitors encounter a circular atrium, also characterized by the distinctive white concrete. This atrium, at the heart of the embassy complex, serves various purposes and includes a sunken roof garden at one end.

Built between 1959 and 1965 on Karl-Marx-Allee in East Berlin, Kino International is a pioneering prefabricated residential building with architect Josef Kaiser's unique design. The cinema's floating first floor symbolizes openness, hosting a state-of-the-art hall for 600 people with cinemascope format. Kino International, influenced by West Berlin's architecture, served various purposes during GDR times, including concerts and a district library. The building features a relief titled "Aus dem Leben heutiger Menschen," portraying a utopian vision. Despite challenges, Kino International endured beyond the GDR's collapse in 1989/90. Acquired by the Yorck Group in 1992, it remains a listed building, showcasing diverse films, hosting the Berlinale, and welcoming international film luminaries.