Monday
The day started at Unite de Habitation by Corbusier. Unite
de Habitation was built in 1958. There was a short lecture outside but I could
not hear what our tour guide was saying because of the wind and how softly he
spoke. The building itself was interesting because of the color of the
balconies. There are 530 apartments in the building. The one room apartment that we saw was quite
small but I feel for one person it would be sufficient. There is only one
five-room apartment, which I thought was odd. In the one room apartment, we
were show the many different configurations that the apartments shape could
take. I thought it was cool that on some floors there were bike rack for people
to put there bike. After this, we went to our guide’s apartment. His apartment
was nice. It was interesting to see what changes he had done to his apartment.
He talked about how the community in the apartment managed the building and how
to keep it up. I liked this building because it was simple but functional.
Then we went to St. Laurentius Kirche. It was a beautiful
church. I was not able to see too much of the church though. I was not able to
because Lauren was not feeling well so I went with her back to the apartments.
I thought I would be able to catch up with the group later but I was not able
to do so. I did walk around Savignyplatz. I did find the bookstore and the
Ludwig Erhard Haus by Grimshaw. I walked around for a couple of hours but was
unable to find them so I returned to the apartment so that I could meet them at
the Reichstag for our tour. I did find a Berlin bear that I took a picture of
before I went back.
Once I got back, it was time to go to the Reichstag. The
Reichstag is the parliamentary building for the Germans. The tour was
interesting and very informative. After the fire, the building was renovated.
Norman Foster was the one who renovated it in 1999. I liked that he decided to
keep what the Soviet soldiers had written on the wall. Only a couple of them
have been removed from the walls of the Reichstag. We went into a room filled
with book but they are not read. A person is fined if they do not attend their
meetings. There are television screens with what is going on that day. Final we
went to the parliamentary chamber. There you can watch a meeting of the
parliament but you cannot add in or sleep if you do. Each party gets a certain
amount of time, which is figured out by the percent that they hold in
parliament. The chairs and desks can be moved to change as the number of each
party changes. There are no assigned sites so you can sit anywhere in your
parties area. This is where our tour ended and we went up to the dome. Shortly
after this, I returned to the apartment and went to sleep.
Tuesday
Tuesday started at the Dutch Embassy. The Dutch Embassy was
designed by Koolhaas in 2003. They have a sight line to the TV tower and that
line of sight cannot be obstructed. I really liked the Dutch Embassy. We were not allowed to take pictures in the
Embassy. The Embassy is by the Spree, which gave it a very Dutch view.
Then we went to Karl–Marx–Allee. This is area was part of
the socialist urban planning. The design was simple and repeated to show that
everyone was equal. We walked and looked at many along the street.
Afterwards we went to Treptower Park to see the Soviet
Memorial. Here we had a lecture on the history of the Cold War. Europe is divided
by sphere of influence. East is dominated by Soviet Union and the West by the
United States and England. During this time,
war was thought to happen at any moment. This idea caused the arms race and the
reason schoolchildren had drills for a nuclear attack. Our generation is the
first generation after the Cold War. The Soviet Union dissolved in the early
1990’s. The wars were not direct Soviet against
United State but both backed forces fought each other. Germany became the
dividing line in Europe. Berlin is split
just as the country is. The Berlin Airlift happened in 1948-1949. Communist was
popular in Eastern Europe so Communist were seen as liberators just as the
other forces were. Many places in Europe are not at replacement level but
immigration in some places is helping offset this.
The Soviet Memorial is very big and has many images that
show the Soviets as liberators. The big statue at the end of the memorial is a
soldier holding a boy and a sword while standing over a broken swastika. This
memorial is for all the fallen soldiers who had died in the war. The Soviet had
the highest body count out of all the countries involved. The memorial is impressive
even today. I enjoyed walking around and looking at the pictures carved into
the sides of the blocks. There were also quotes on the sides of the blocks but
I could not read what they said because they were in German. It was interesting
to see how this memorial differed from the others. This is where we ended the
day and after this, I went back to the apartments and went to bed.
Wednesday
We walked around and looked at the IBA housing. We had
walked pass some of them while we walked around Berlin in the previous weeks. Most were done by up and coming architects. Some
of the architects that did an IBA block are Hejduk, Rossi, Hadid, Botta, Cook
and, Dudler. Some of the IBA housing is no longer housing. For example, the
Hadid building is now a hair salon. I likes the IBA housing more than the ones
we had seen on Tuesday.
Then we went to Checkpoint Charlie. There we went to the
Mauer Museum. I really liked this museum but you were not allowed to take
pictures inside the museum. The Mauer Museum is in the Eisenman IBA housing is
where the museum was. There were a lot of people in the museum so it was a hard
to get around and to see the entire exhibit. It was interesting to be in an
area that was a transition area between the Soviet and the American sector.
Then we went to see the Berlin Wall Memorial and
Documentation Center. We went into the Visitor Center and the Chapel of Reconciliation.
In the Visitor Center, we got to see the wall from a distance. When you think
of the Berlin Wall, you think of just a singular wall that divided a city but
there were two walls with a no man’s land between the walls. The rest of the
center was a disappointing. There was only a movie that explained the Berlin Wall,
which would have been interesting if there were not so many slow pan shots. The
Church of reconciliation was interesting because the original church was destroyed
but you can see the outline of the church. The church was believed to have been
destroyed because it blocked the view of the guards on the wall. Many people
did not get over the wall but got through to the other side by tunnels. Where
the tunnels were are marked by markers. Even with the rainy weather, the day
was still very informative and fun. I was very hungry so after we were dismissed
I went and got me some food across the street from the memorial. Once I got
back to the apartment, I streamed the Euro Cup game.
