Yes, Berlin architecture is pretty boring in general. Looking at the vast majority of new residential and office buildings, efficiency and consewrvativeness trump architectural ambition. But if you start to look further, there is a lot to explore. So I decided to just make a highly subjective list of architectural highlights of Berlin, including some usual suspects and hopefully some surprises.
Residential buildings
- LUX, Neustädtischer Kirchplatz: I like to call this the ‘building with a hole’, as it leaves out at least two living un near Friedrichstrasse
- Stalinbauten Frankfurter Allee: Berlin has a long history of building entire residential areas according to one central architectural vision. Unfortunately, for this development there was already a lot of infrastructure in place that was torn down. Nonetheless, this boulevard is still an impressive showcase of communist architecture
- Weiße Stadt: you wouldn’t expect a Unesco World Heritage site in not-so-beautiful Rheinickendorf, but the White City is a surprising complex of apartment buildings. It is one of six developments at the end of the 1920s of the so-called ‘Berliner Moderne’, introducing a new style of living
- Siemensstadt: another example of the ‘Berliner Moderne’, this one is bigger and smaller at the same time. The amount of houses is bigger, but often these are nice tiny houses instead of apartments. Close to the Siemens factories and the wonderful Jungfernheide open-air swimming pool, it is a nice area. Work is underway to rejuvenave this area again with new buildings and reviving the S-Bahn metro that was abandoned in the 1980s
- Hufeisensiedlung: on the opposite end of town, architect Bruno Tauth realised a socialist vision of society. The ‘horseshoe estate’ has an almost townhouse feel, with lots of green. It’s also part of the ‘Berliner Moderne’
- Märkisches Viertel: ask someone whether you brought him to the former East or West, and he will tell you ‘East’. Wrong of course, as this expansion area at the northern edge of Berlin was in former West Berlin. The massive project with highrises theoretically has all the parts required (shopping center, sports facilities, parks, natural reserve around the corner), but doesn’t piece them together. Part of that is also due to the fact the metro station stops 600 metres shy of the center of this area, an unforgiveable error of city planning. Well worth a visit though for the architectural vision
- Interbau: one could mention the entire Hansaviertel, the experimental area in the western part of Tiergarten used for the 1957 International Building Exhibition (Interbau). But Oscar Niemeyer (the man who shaped Brasilia) is one of the most interesting pieces of work
- Unite d’Habitation: yes, Le Corbusier built in Berlin. And what an amazing piece of work. His vision of a vertical city is exectued into perfection close to the Olympiastadion (Olympic stadium), an area mentioned more often in this list
- Wohnhaus Schlesisches Tor: not as eye-catching, but the sheer fact that Alvaro Siza built something in Berlin already deserves a mention in this list. The architect that left his imprint on his hometown of Porto made a restrained residential building close to Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn
- L 40: this apartment building close to Rosa Luxemburg Platz just seems to defy gravity. Heavy dark-grey concrete blocks float over huge glass openings, hopefully supported by some concrete columns invisible from the outside. Great example of the modern work of Bundschuh architects
- LOK 45: instead of real estate investors, people can of course also organize themselves into ‘Baugruppen’ (building groups) and finance a real estate development themselves. This has a huge tradition in Berlin, though building plot prices have made this also prohibitively expensive. LOK 45 is a nice example what can be achieved through this though
- Living Levels: if architecture should provoke, this new residential building succeeded. Easily. Some called it ‘California coming to Berlin’. Personally, the location itself would be problematic (not integrated into the typical dense Berlin network of neighborhoods with supermarkets and bars), but it is directly at the Spree river, has a strong design with loads of sunlight and south-facing balconies. Prohobitively expensive as well by the way 🙂
- Katharina Grosse Studio: never mind my personal taste, once I walked past this building in Moabit I knew it deserved a place on this list. Whether it is a house or also an office is unclear, I just included it in the residential list. It basically is a monolithic concrete block, where huge windows have been cut out though. Minimalist to the max
- Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer ensemble: this is a strange one as I don’t even know whether it has a name. But in the middle of the memorial site of the Berlin wall, somehow people managed to get a building permit for a group of townhouses. These seem to combine work and living within each unit, and also open up generously towards the daylight. Close to two other items on this list as well, the Kapelle der Versöhnung and the Gedenkstätte Besucherzentrum
- Paragon Berlin: ‘architects that design such buildings should be executed’, a friend of mine told me. I will not pull the trigger though, because these new apartment buildings at the corner of Prenzlauer Allee and Danziger Strasse have a clear concept: almost box-like concrete apartments with floor-to-ceiling windows, a feature I dearly miss in most buildings in this notoriously grey city
- Schwanenwerder Villa: one of the very few on this list I haven’t seen myself. Also called a secret hide-out for 007, this crazy luxurious villa can only be watched from the water in the swanky Schwanenwerder area
Offices, hotels, factories
- FOM Berlin: alright, this one isn’t even finished yet. But I once saw a great overview exhibition of the work of Jürgen Mayer H, the Berlin architect with his own signature that hasn’t built so much in his own city yet. He is more known for the Metropol Parasol in Seville. But after a modest residential building behind the Friedrichstadtpalast, more ambitious projects are materializing in Berlin. The FOM is the sister of a project in Düsseldorf, a typical Jürgen Mayer H design. Close to S-Bahn Jannowitzbrücke he is also working on a big commercial project
- The Cube: let’s make two deals. First, let’s stop giving funky English names to real estate developments in Berlin, alright? We are in Deutschland. Second: please stop with making fractured glass facades to hide the pretty standard design on the inside. Deal? In that case the one and only mention in this category is The Cube, right in front of the Hauptbahnhof
- DZ Bank: spectacular starchitect Frank Gehry is in Berlin and you wouldn’t see it if you didn’t know it. He has two entries on this list. This one is at Brandenburg Gate. Beyond the facade of the DZ Bank office building, Gehry could unleash his sculptural skills unto some amazing meeting rooms and event spaces
- Mäusebunker: brutalism is fighting for its survival in Berlin. Apparently nowadays these huge concrete slabs aren’t appreciated anymore and have to be torn down. But of course these structures need to survive as an important sign of those times. The Mäusebunker is an astonishing futuristic piece of architecture in a leafy area in the south. It was used for scientific experiments on animals and has been left to rot for years. Several architects are fighting for its survival though
- Zoofenster: the ‘window to the zoo’ is one of two new developments near the Zoologischer Garten station. Just as Living Levels, these are American-style, white towers, though these come with a swirl. They are a mix of offices, hotel and luxury apartments
- Peter Behrens Haus: and now for something completely different. I totally love brick industrial architecture, and the entire area of Oberschöneweide along the river Spree (once one of the biggest industrial sites of Europe) is a shiny example. Some of these buildings were renovated into a university, but the Peter Behrens Haus is still more or less as it was
- AEG Gelände: Behrens of course was one of the trendsetters of industrial architecture in the 1920s. Around the corner of where I live in Wedding he realized a world-famous building (well, amongst architects). The AEG factories are already cathedrals of dark red brick. But the production hall was in its days the biggest free-standing hall in the world, with an innovative steel design I think to support the roof
- Ullstein Verlag: another magnificent example of brick architecture are these publishing offices in the Tempelhof area. It’s a neighborhood well worth a visit because of its cute inner harbour and these adjacent brick cathedrals
- Nhow hotel: this area east of the Oberbaumbrücke was no man’s land after the fall of the wall. Then Universal moved in, and Coca Cola, and then more funky new buildings came. The Nhow draws attention as the top floors stick out so far you’d fear the building would collapse
- 50 Hertz: most new office buildings in Berlin are still very uniform and boring. In my opinion, this one development adjacent to the Hamburger Bahnhof museum is an exception, as floor-to-ceiling windows seem to let daylight in generously, and the supporting structure at least on the outside only shows slender concrete beams. It is the entrance to Europa City, an enormous new area north of Hauptbahnhof
- GSW HQ: I always call it the building with a plane wign, as that remarkable structure is on top of this colorful office close to Checkpoint Charlie
- Axel Springer Campus: Axel Springer publishers is responsible for the hate-breeding Bild newspaper, but the company also made a remarkable business turnaround and became a successful digital publisher. It will bring all these new ventures into a massive new sculptural block, which is ripped open for asymmetrical windows. It is a daring project by OMA, the Dutch architecture firm (of which I am not a massive fan)
- Ex-Rotaprint: a five minute walk from my home in Wedding, this former printing factory is a shining example in many ways. One is the ownership model, which makes it almost impossible for real estate investor vultures (the capitalist cancer that has been ruining the fabric of society in the last three decades) to buy it. It makes it a safe haven for artists to do their thing without fear of being evicted. It is also a great building, a nice example of modernist architecture
- Bahn Tower: opinions are divided about the redevlopment of Potsdamer Platz. You can’t deny though that some buildings have become icons of the city. This glass office structure is one of them
- Galeries Lafayette Berlin: starchitect Jean Nouvel in Berlin, yes. This shopping center lacks the characteristics of his more daring work, though it stands out from the competition because it has a very strong individual style
- Ludwig Erhard Haus: landed from outer space, it is surprising the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce in Berlin is such a bold architectural statement. The atriums between the three office blocks, and especially the sci-fi elevators there, are iconic and are featured in many many movies
- Postfuhramt: one of the strangest job interviews ever was in the renovated buildings of the Postfuhramt (post dispatch office). Dilapidated for decades, it has been refurbished into a high-tech (and slightly unpersonal) office space by a start-up, without losing its brick charm. Not accessible for the general public though
- Bundespräsidialamt: I love more organic-shaped buildings, so this almost hidden building next to Bellevue castle was an easy pick for this list. It is an oval-shaped, dark-stained glass building in the middle of Tiergarten. It doesn’t scream for attention, though it actually deserves that
- Energieforum Berlin: opposite Ostbahnhof is this office building, hidden brilliantly behind a rather traditional brick building. But the round tube entrance makes you curious. This tube actually transports you through the old building into the massive atrium, which views of the Spree river. It’s a cathedral of light
- Bundesfinanzministerium: one of the buildings with the burden of Berlin’s history, as it was the headquarters of the Gestapo amongst others. It has been renovated completely into the Ministry of Finance and still features the open personal elevators
- Soho House: another location with a complicated history, as this one is intricately linked to the political party (SED) that ruled East Germany for decades. Has now been repurposed into part of the Soho membership-hotel chain, with a great penthouse bar and swimming pool where gay photo models tend to giggle their nights away
- Landesvertretung Baden-Württemberg: the capital of this province, Stuttgart, is generally loathed in Berlin as their residents have bought up huge chunks of real estate in Berlin as investment vehicles and have thus contributed (it is said) to the insane increase of prices. Wisely, the province decided to build a modest office in Berlin decided to rub their wealth into our faces and splash on this gravity-defying headquarter
- Philologie Bibiothek: this library at the Freie Universität is dome-shaped and designed by Foster + Partners
- Heinz Galinksi Schule: another rare one I didn’t visit myself, the Heinz Galinski Schule seems straightforward from the outside but is delicate from the inside, unfolding like leaves of a tree
Museums
- Futurium: a rare show of guts innthis incredibly dull new row of office buildings, the Futurium is still a massive thing but at least is slightly more playful and creative. It is a museum into the future, or similar, which is of course a contradictio in terminis. Anyway, fun to visit
- Judisches Museum: so stunning you would almost forget it. So good it opened up as a building years before the exhibition opened. One of those rare places where the architect’s concept and the execution actually come together in a meaningful and pragmatic way. Architect Daniel Libeskind, jewish himself, did the same trick on a smaller scale at the Felix Nussbaum Haus in Osnabrück. He also made a residential building (Sapphire, with his typical fractured facade)
- Academy of Jewish Museum: most people forget to cross the street from the Jewish museum. The academy is a continuation of the philosophy, but with respect to the existing building
- Neue Nationalgalerie: this one a classic by Mies van der Rohe, a steel-structured roof enabling the floor-to-ceiling windows all around the square building. It hides the actual museum spaces underneath. After extensive renovations this one should reopen in 2021
- Sammlung Boros: you need to make a reservation weeks in advance for guided tours of this private art collection. This bomb shelter in the city center was also a storage for fruits, and a location for gay fetish parties. Art collector Christian Boros bought it after the fall of the wall, built his own penthouse on top of it but was also nice enough to open the concrete slab to display his impressive contemporary art collection
- Feuerle Collection: less wel-known this is also a bomb shelter turned private art gallery. Architect, John Pawson did a wonderful because restrained job
- König Galerie: this one a church turned gallery. The concrete building looks standard from the outside, but the main room on the first floor has truly unique light qualities
- Haus der Kulturen der Welt: could have also been designed by Calatrava. This beautiful curving event space / exhibition venue along the Spree river was so innovative the roof once collapsed
- Deutsches Historisches Museum: remarkable place. The old building’s inner courtyard was converted into a beautiful atrium. They then decided to add another reason to visit: an expansion with a stairs by I.M. Pei that is a work of art by itself. Good collection as well to give you an insight into German history
- Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer: the memorial site for the Berlin wall is a great project, an outdoor site showcasing facts of history and witness testimonies. The visitors centre consists of two rusty-steel-cladded blocks, leaving an immediate impression
- Neues Museum: the museum island is a delicate piece of architecture. Chipperfield left the outside of the Neues Museum as it was (at least as far as it wasn’t destroyed), but did some great restrained redesigns on the inside
- James Simon Galerie: connecting all the pieces of museum’s island together was a vast undertaking. Chipperfield became the obvious choice for this small expansion / entrance building, which opened in 2020
- Bode Museum: of all the buildings on museum’s island, this one for me is the most beautiful. You can even admire the sweeping stairs for free as they are the entrance to the coffee room on the first floor
- Bauhaus Museum: compulsory entry on the list. I am not a fan of the Bauhaus style of design, but both building and collection of course deserve your full attention
- Museum for architectural drawing: a massive contrast to the adjacent Pfefferberg old industrial buildings, this slightly out-of-shape stack of concrete blocks topped off by a glass cube on top is a hidden treasure and a go-to place for architects worldwide
Event locations
- Pierre Boulez Saal: the second Gehry on this list, and also with this one you wouldn’t guess from the outside. Close to the beautiful Gendarmenmarkt, the standard facade hides a delicate concert venue, oval-shaped but with two ovals that don’t fit perfectly together
- Zoo Palast: a Berlin icon. Rather square from the outside, the main screen is one of the best and comfy places in the city to watch a movie
- Kino International: another movie classic. Impressive modernist / communist piece of architecture, kicking off the Stalinbauten along Frankfurter Allee
- Philharmonik: this entire area is of course a highlight for architecture fans, with the gold-facaded library and the Kunstgewerbemuseum as neighbors. But Hans Scharoun’s creation stands out: as sculptural as Gehry’s work, but then realized fifty years earlier. It is a building that keeps surprising at every turn on the inside and outside, and has amazing acoustics
- Velodrom: the Olympics didn’t come to Berlin in the 1990s, but still the city realized this piece of architecture in the east. The round-shaped Velodrom (designed for cycling, but also used for concerts) is accompanied by swimming facilities, both hidden under an elevated city park
- Max Schmeling Halle: another result of the failed Olympic bid, this is by far a better place to watch concerts then the much bigger arena near Ostbahnhof. The Max Schmeling Halle blends into the surrounding park with its green roofs. Inside, the steep stands make this an intimate experience. Don’t forget to watch a handball match when you can, it is ridiculously exciting and funny
- Tempodrom: initially a real tent close to where the Hauptbahnhof now is, this became a popular venue after the fall of the wall. It found a new location in this tent-shaped (of course) purpose-built location, again as a concert venue. Hidden under it is the Liquidrom sauna. It’s a nice start for a walk into the Park am Gleisdreieck (just cross the bridge behind the Tempodrom)
- Olympiastadion: the Olympic stadium is NOT designed by Hitler’s favorite Albert Speer. Nonetheless the influences of Nazi architecture are obvious, which doesn’t make this building less impressive, especially ater the renovation in the early 00s which added the saucer-shaped roof. The entire complex (with training facilities, an equestrian stadium and swimming pool) is worth a visit. Visiting home matches of Hertha BSC are a dull affair though, as the distance to the pitch is way too big
- Waldbühne: the Nazis loved classic architecture. It’s no surprise they built an almost perfect copy of an amphitheatre into the hills behind the Olympiastadion. Amazing venue for open-air concerts in summer
- Deutsche Oper: Berlin’s biggest opera house and a great showcase of modernist architecture. As Berlin was divided for several decades, it had at least two versions of several key institutions. This didn’t only include a zoo (the east had a Tiergarten), but also operas. This one is close to Erstn Reuter Platz
- Staatsoper: located along the classic Unter den Linden boulevard, this is a worthy building that had a lengthy and expensive renovation that didn’t change the character. The great thing is that they also still show some new cutting-edge opera works here as well
- Funkhaus Nalepastrasse: probably the best concert venue in Berlin. The former radio recording studios of the GDR are hidden on the borders of the river Spree far in the east. The main studio had room for an entire orchestra, has huge columns and walls designed to perfect the acoustics. It still has the atmosphere of the 1970s but the sound of now. Amazing place. Occasionally there are architecture tours of the massive complex
- Radialsystem V: small former factory renovated and expanded into an event space close to Ostbahnhof
- Goya: this building has a long history as a cinema, theatre, and even party location for the (in)famous kinky Kit Kat Club. It recently reopened as a concert venue. Deadpan at Nollendorfplatz
- Berghain: my spiritual home, and the headquarters of planet minimal techno. This hedonistic place is notorious for its door policy and the anything-goes mentality of its visitors. But what a building it is. The former electricity plant was stripped in 2004 to its essence. The concrete core was only enhanced by some steel stairs to connect the foyer to the main dance floor on the first floor. If you want to admire it, just book a ticket for a concert. And beware it is for the Berghain, not for the Kantine (which is adjacent) or the Panoramabar (which is only one floor of the massive building)
- Volksbühne Rosa Luxemburg Platz: theatre played a critical role in the GDR, one of the few spots where criticism of the socialist system was slightly possible. This classic theatre is still a showcase of thought-provoking stuff
- Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz: the Schaubühne is even more experimental. The architecture by Erich Mendelssohn is incredibly enough from the 1920s and incorporates basically four ‘blocks’. Two of them (the flat entrance and the former cinema now theatre) form the Schaubühne. I watched a splendid remake of Hamlet there
- Deutsches Theater: more conventional in its form, this theatre is super comfortable and cosy. Hidden in the heart of town, it hosts a range of newer plays
Various
- Bierpinsel? The beer brush is an iconic Berlin thingy, almost impossible to discover for tourists as it is in the souther suburb of Steglitz. The same architects were responsible for the ICC. This is a strange, brush-shaped building in sparkling bright colors, making it an example of pop architecture
- ICC: what the hell they were thinking, or what the briefing for the project was, is anyone’s guess. The International Congress Center landed straight from Star Trek on the western edge of the Berlin highway ring. It could have also come from the set of a James Bond movie, the perfect lair of a bad guy. It certainly didn’t age well, considering it was finished as recently as 1979 and has been closed and waiting for renovations (or deconstruction) for a decade now
- Kugellabore Rudower Chaussee: Adlershof is a science district far in the east. One of the more quirky structures are two molecule-shaped concrete balls, designed for scientific experiments
- BRLO: the Park am Gleisdreieck is a former railway track area reconverted into a park. The BRLO brewery found its (semi-permanent?) home in this magnificent display of container architecture
- Hauptbahnhof: yes, it divides opinions. But then again, it is an immediately recognisable and unique building. It was unfortunately never really finished: to open it before the 2006 World Cup, the last metres of glass platform roof was never built
- St Hedwiges Kathedrale: an oasis of calmness in the middle of the city. A cathedral that doesn’t look too much like one, I love the place if I just need some time with my own thoughts
- Tempelhof Fluggebäude: the former city airport is intrinsically linked with Nazi architecture and still one of the biggest buildings on earth. There are magnificent guided tours (also in English) depicting the history of the structure and which shows the bowling venue, basketball hall and the never-finished soldier’s quarters and staircases
- Tegel (TXL) airport: the old main building also looks like a James Bond’s villain’s lair, but the design was far ahead of its time. It made ample space for taxis and public transport, and that terminal was loved by travelers because you could walk straight up to the gate. When expanding the airport, they unfortunately didn’t convert the original plans (to build another similar-shaped terminal) but opted for a cheap and ugly solution. After the airport closes in november 2020 it will be converted into a high-tech campus
- Krematorium Baumschulenweg: the Silent Green in Wedding is another beautiful old crematorium, now a cultural center. But it had to close because the new crematorium in the Baumschulenweg opened. It is rather unsurprising the same architects are responsible for the Bundeskanzleramt in the government’s district: this is also a building reduced to concrete and steel and nothing much more, which is perfectly fitting for its purpose
- Regierungsviertel: the government quarter is actually a combination of buildings, but all to the same architectural vision of transparency. Naked concrete is everywhere, as are huge windows that give citizens the desired transparency into the workings of democracy. The offices of the Bundeskanzler are on the western edge, followed by the Paul Lobe Haus and the Marie-Elisabeth Lüders Haus, separated by the Spree river but connected by a footbridge
- Sony Center: I only say one thing: the roof. A Berlin landmark
- Gendarmenmarkt: without a doubt the most beautiful square of Berlin. The concert venue though is a bit plain
- Lobe Block: also in my neighborhood of Wedding, this gallery and workshop building was designed by Brandlstuber architects, who themselves occupy an interesting office near Rosenthaler Platz. It is a terraced, and therefore on the frontside heaviuly over-leaning, structure. Spectacular, and also making room for lots of daylight and huge outdoor terraces for the artists working and living there
- Reichstag Cupola: another landmark, this addition to the original building has become a symbol of the new Berlin. The cupola entails a walkway for visitors wanting to admire the skyline. Make reservations beforehand though. Or have dinner in the rooftop restaurant!
- Tschechischer Botschaft: the Czech embassy is another rare survival of brutalism. Also under threat of demolition, but this beautiful ugly creature is not dead yet
- Sowjetisches Ehrendenkmal: there are several Soviet memorials in Berlin. One is close to the Brandenburg gate. The biggest and most well-known is in Treptower Park though, a ridiculously impressive site with a massive statue as well of course. It is quite close to a beautiful riverside walk through Treptower Park towards the former theme park there as well. A smaller version of the memorial can be found in Niederschönhausen, in the north of the city close to Schönholzer Heide
- Otto Bock science center: very close to Potsdamer Platz is this small, curvy building. It was a showcase for the medtech company but is apparently closed at the moment
- Fernsehturm: the TV tower. So obvious one would almost forget what an engineering feat this actually was
- Kapelle der Versöhnung: the chapel of reconciliation is along the memorial site of the Berlin wall (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer). The brick/concrete core of this small sweet building is hidden by a second, semi-transparent wooden ring and replaces a church that was destroyed to not interfere with the Berlin wall
- Dutch embassy: Rem Koolhaas and his OMA office got their taste of Berlin in this building that is not so practical, but fascinating. It has a gentle walkway that takes you all around the building, over several levels. On the top floor were living quarters for the ambassador, which have now been converted
- IGA viewing tower: the international garden exhibition (IGA) made its way to Berlin around 2018 into the area around the beautiful Garten der Welt (Gardens of the World) in ugly Marzahn. A new cable-car was built to connect the nearest metro station to the exhibition site, and a nearby hill received a viewing platform. That is actually a beautiful slender construction which almost makes this area beautiful
- Oberbaumbrücke: an icon of Berlin, this beautiful red-stoned bridge across the Spree
- Umlauftank 2,: the central railway lines through Berlin reveal this strange pop art-like building. The Umlauftank was built in 1974 and renovated in 2017 to give it back its original colors. It is part of the TU (Technical University), the five-story blue block has offices and laboratories
- Kranhaus: a small but nice steel building, this crane was part of the industrial area of Oberschöneweide. It has been renovated and turned into a coffeeshop and two Airbnb rooms, all with nice views of the Spree river
- Zeiss Gross Planetarium: amazing building still. In the not-so-beautiful part of Prenzlauer Berg is this massive round construction, that sometimes also hosts events
- Station Mexikoplatz: of the many many railway stations in Berlin, this is probably the most beautiful. Erected in Jugendstil, it is distinctly different from the majority of (very functional) stations in the network
- Stadtbad Mitte: hidden from view when you drive through the Gartenstrasse in Mitte, is this awesome swimming pool. Once you enter, you will discover an enormous pool with a glass roof. Incredibly already built in 1929
So, what I personally miss is more contributions of wooden architecture. Most showcases here were built with concrete, not the most sustainable and human-friendly material in the world. And, of course, if you have any tips, just let me know.
