Postclimax

Berlin, 2023

Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2 x 3, Kodak Portra 800

Hardly any other city has experienced so many ups and downs in the last 100 years. The dreams of the National Socialists were followed by total destruction. After the economic miracle, the division of the city. After reunification, disillusionment. Berlin, it seems, is sleeping off the frenzy and preparing for the next party. But the city never forgets its highs and lows.

The following photo series was taken in 2023 and searches for the postclimax traces in the city.

The images were photographed analog and the negatives were directly digitized.

Dein Reich komme.
Dein Wille geschehe.

Wahn

Grössen

Flughafen Tempelhof, 2 x 3, Ilford HP5 Plus

Raisin bomber, 2 x 3, Ilford HP5 Plus

Bomber in hangar, 2 x 3, Ilford HP5 Plus

The airport was built as a central airport within 3 years by the Nazis and opened in 1939 as the largest building in the world in terms of area at that time. It was the only part of the capital Germania ever completed.

Flughafen Tempelhof, 3 x 2, Ilford HP5 Plus

Flughafen Tempelhof, 2 x 3, Kodak Portra 800

Basketball court of the American troops stationed at Tempelhof Airport until 1993. The hall on the top floor was designed as a ballroom for the Third Reich.

Flughafen Tempelhof, 2 x 3, Kodak Portra 800

Flughafen Tempelhof, 3 x 2, Kodak Portra 800

The unique construction allowed passengers to reach the aircraft dry even in bad weather. The Third Reich also planned to use the roof as a grandstand for air shows; more than 100,000 spectators would have been able to marvel at these.

After being used for small aircraft, the airport was shut down in 2008.

Reconstruction

West

Pallasseum, 3 x 2, CineStill 800T

Pallasseusm 2 x 3, CineStill 800T

Pallasseum, 3 x 2, CineStill 800T

West Berlin also experimented with new housing concepts. One of the best known of these is the Pallasseum. It was named Sozialpalast (Social Palace) in reference to the former Sportpalast and its Plattenbau-like appearance. Unlike its counterparts on the socialist side of Berlin, however, it is not a building type that was built in series, but a one-off.

The building spans the listed high bunker Pallasstrasse, which was built by forced laborers during World War II.

East

Rathauspassagen, 3 x 2, CineStill 800T

The Rathauspassagen was the flagship Plattenbau (Large panel system-building) of the GDR. While the lower floors were designed for stores, the upper floors are used for apartments. During the GDR period, the Plattenbau in Berlin Mitte near Alexanderplatz and with a view of the Fernsehturm was a representative object and reserved for the best stores only.

Typical for the P2 type of the Plattenbau, the building has no balconies.

Rathauspassagen, 2 x 3, CineStill 800T

DER SOZIALISMUS SIEGT

Oasis at the feet of the Fernsehturm, 4 x 5, CineStill 800T

Oasis at the feet of the Fernsehturm, 4 x 5, Ilford HP5 Plus

The Fernsehturm (television tower) and the oasis at its feet were built in the 1960s so that it would be easy to see, even from West Berlin, that socialism was winning.

Park Inn at the Alexanderplatz, 2 x 3, CineStill 800T

The former Interhotel was the tallest skyscraper in the city until 2023. It was opened a year after the Fernsehturm and was probably intended to underline the greatness of socialism once again.

Brutalism

Mäusebunker

Mäusebunker, 3 x 2, Kodak Portra 800

Mäusebunker, 2 x 3, Kodak Portra 800

Mäusebunker, 3 x 2, Kodak Portra 800

Bierpinsel

Bierpinsel, 2 x 3, Kodak Portra 800

Bierpinsel, 2 x 3, Ilford HP5 Plus

ICC Berlin

ICC Berlin, 3 x 2, Kodak Portra 800

ICC Berlin, 3 x 2, CineStill 800T

ICC Berlin vs. Briefzentrum Zürich-Mülligen

Designed by Theo Hotz, the then Zurich-Mülligen Postal Operations Center opened 6 years after the ICC Berlin and its functionally oriented design is strongly reminiscent of the building by Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte. Unlike its counterpart in Berlin, the building in Zurich is still in use today.