FU/BEST Program. Course title: Architecture in Berlin from the 19 th Century to Today. Language of instruction: English.

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1 Course title: Architecture in Berlin from the 19 th Century to Today Language of instruction: English Contact hours: 45 ECTS-Credits: 5 U.S. semester credits: 3 Course description This course provides an overview of the development of public and private architecture in Berlin during the 19 th, 20 th, and 21 st centuries. Following an introduction to architectural terms and an examination of the urban development and architectural history of the Modern era, the Neo-Classical period will be surveyed with special reference to the works of Schinkel. This will be followed by sessions on the architecture of the German Reich after 1871, which was characterized by both modern and conservative tendencies, and the manifold activities during the time of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. The architecture of the Nazi period will be examined, followed by the developments in East and West Berlin after the Second World War. The course concludes with a detailed review of the city s contemporary and future architectural profiles, including an analysis of the conflicts concerning the re-design of "Berlin Mitte", Potsdamer Platz, and the new government quarter. We will examine architectural examples in Berlin by famous international architects like Lord Norman Foster, Frank O. Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Richard Rogers. As a complement to the lectures, formal field-trips to historically significant buildings and sites constitute an integral component of the course and will give students the possibility of discovering the city in a unique way. The course aims at offering a deeper understanding of the interdependence between Berlin s architecture and the city s social and political structures. It considers Berlin as a model for the development of a European capital in modern times. Student profile Second-semester sophomore or above Prerequisites None 1

2 Course Requirements Attendance and participation (incl. 2 Independent Project reports): 20% Midterm exam: 20% Final exam: 20% Architectural presentation in class or during field-trip: 20% Term-Paper: 20% Literature Photocopied course reader Course schedule Sessions Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Topics, Readings, etc. Topic: Introduction; Urban history of Berlin. Reading: E.A. Gutkind: Urban Development in Central Europe, 1964, pp ; Doug Clelland: Berlin. An Architectural History, (pp. 5-15) and David Leatherbarrow: Friedrichstadt - A Symbol of Toleration (pp ), both in Doug Clelland, ed.: Berlin - An Architectural History, 1990; H. G. Pundt: Berlin before Schinkel s Time, in: H. G. Pundt: Schinkel s Berlin, 1972, pp. 4-33; Topic: Architectural terms & styles; Early 19th century architecture. Reading: D. Watkin and T. Mellinghoff: "A Style for a Nation", in D. Watkin and T. Mellinghoff, eds.: German Architecture and the Classical Ideal, , 1987, pp ; Henry-Russell Hitchcock: "Introduction" (pp ) and "Romantic Classicism around 1800" (pp ), both in: Henry-Russell Hitchcock: Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Topic: Field-trip: Historical City Center. Reading: Robert R. Taylor: "The Royal Guardhouse, Museum and Theatre", in: Robert R. Taylor: Hohenzollern Berlin. Construction and Reconstruction, 1985, pp ; G. Riemann: Schinkel s Buildings and Plans for Berlin, in M. Snodin, ed.: Karl Friedrich Schinkel. A Universal Man, 1991, pp ; D. Watkin and T. Mellinghoff: "Karl Friedrich Schinkel", in: D. Watkin and T. Mellinghoff, eds.: German Architecture and the 2

3 Session 4 Classical Ideal, , 1987, pp Topic: Field-trip: Onkel Toms Hütte. Reading: R. Wiedenhoeft: Berlin s Housing Revolution. German Reform in the 1920s, 1985, pp. 1-12; 43-51; ; B. Miller Lane: Architecture and Politics in Germany, , 1968, pp Session 5 Topic: German empire Reading: G. Peschken and T. Heinisch: Berlin at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century (pp ) and G. Peschken: The Berlin Miethaus and Renovation (pp ), both in Doug Clelland, ed.: Berlin. An Architectural History, 1983; D. Worbs: The Berlin Mietskaserne and Its Reforms (pp ), in J. P. Kleihues and C. Rathberger, eds.: Berlin New York. Like and unlike. Essays on Architecture and Art from 1870 to the Present (1993); A. Windsor: Behrens and the AEG (pp ), in: A. Windsor: Peter Behrens. Architect and Designer, Session 6 Session 7 Session 8 Video: Industrial architecture Midterm Exam Topic: Field-trip: A new capital city: Pariser Platz, U.S. embassy, British Embassy. Reading: P.B. Jones: Akademie der Künste, Berlin, in: The Architectural Review, November 2005, pp ; J.S. Russell: Criticism, in: Architectural Record, May 2002, pp ; B. Werneburg: Rebuilding Berlin, in: Art in America, Nov. 1995, pp , 131; K. Powell: Berlin. Failing a capital challenge, in: The Architects Journal, 30. October 1997, pp. 25, 27; P. D.: Building Berlin, in: The Architectural Review, 205, January 1999; R. Cohen: A Shrine to Power. Is Berlin Ready?, in: The New York Times International, February 16, 2001; Rolf J. Goebel: "Berlin's Architectural Citations: Reconstruction, Simulation, and the Problem of Historical Authenticity", in: Publications of the Modern Language Association, Vol. 118, No. 5, (Oct. 2003), pp Topic: Modern architecture during the 3

4 Golden Twenties, Part I. Session 9 Reading: Fritz Neumeyer: "Nexus of the Modern: The New Architecture in Berlin," in: Tilman Buddensieg, ed.: Berlin Architecture and Design, 1992, pp ; Henry-Russell Hitchcock: "The Early Work of the Second Generation: Walter Gropius, et. al., in: Henry- Russell Hitchcock: Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 1958, pp Topic: Modern architecture during the Golden Twenties, Part II. Reading: B. Miller Lane: Architecture and Politics in Germany, , 1968, pp ; Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani: "Modernism and the Metropolis. Plans for Central Berlin , in: J. P. Kleihues and Chr. Ratgeber, eds.: Berlin - New York. Like and Unlike, 1993, pp Session 10 Topic: Architecture of the Third Reich, Reading: Peter Adam: "Hitler the Architect" (pp ) and "Hitlers Construction Sites" (pp ), both in: Peter Adam: Art of the Third Reich, Session 11 Topic: Post-war architecture, Session 12 Reading: K. v. Beyme: Reconstruction in the German Democratic Republic, in Jeffrey M. Diefendorf, ed.: Rebuilding Europe s Bombed Cities, 1990, pp ; J.P. Kleihues: From the Destruction to the Critical Reconstruction of the City: Urban Design in Berlin after 1945, in J. P. Kleihues and C. Rathberger, eds.: Berlin New York. Like and unlike. Essays on Architecture and Art from 1870 to the Present, 1993, pp ; Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani: "Town planning and architecture in Berlin, ," in: Irit Rogoff, ed.: The Divided Heritage: Themes and Problems in German Modernism, 1991, pp Topic: Contemporary Architecture 1990 to today. Reading: Colomb, C.: "Marketing the Global Service Metropolis and the National Capital", and: "Staging Urbanism: Construction Site Tourism and the City as 4

5 Session 13 Exhibition", both in: Colomb, C.: Staging the New Berlin. Place Marketing and the Politics of Urban Reinvention Post-1989, Abingdon 2012; Ascher Barnstone, D.: "Transparency in German architecture before and after the War", in: Ascher Barnstone, D.: The Transparent State. Architecture and politics in postwar Germany, London 2005, pp Final Exam 5