Issue 07.2015 of the Suisse architectural magazine modulor on Berlin features two texts and images by me:
Werner Düttmann. Ein Berliner Architekt / Werner Düttmann. A Berlin architect
Portrait of the architect, Senate Building Director and President of the Academy of Arts. Werner Düttmann made his mark on West Berlin as an architect, Senate Building Director and President of the Academy of Arts. With the recent conversion of his Church of St. Agnes into an art gallery and the appreciation of his work as a person within the framework of the contribution „Public Works. Architecture by Civil Servants“ at the Architecture Biennale 2012 in Venice, Düttman has once again come into focus. The exhibition „Radikal Modern“ at the Berlinische Galerie is also currently focusing on planning and building in 1960s Berlin. Reason enough for a foray through a piece of Berlin history.
Märkisches Viertel
In 1964 the first tenants moved into their apartment in the Märkisches Viertel – and shortly afterwards its reputation was already ruined. Serious failures in the implementation of the transport infrastructure, a lack of kindergartens, schools and community facilities, building defects and social tensions caused by clumsy occupancy strategies caused unrest. The press took up the issue and the largest housing project in West Berlin at that time was presented as a prototype of unscrupulous mass housing construction. To this day, this image still weighs heavily on the former showpiece project of modern urban development.
Top: The buildings of Oswald Mathias Ungers at Märkisches Viertel. Image: Moritz Henning
