by: Illya Azaroff AIA
Deutsch Arkitektur Zentrum, Berlin (left) and Center for Architecture, NYC (right).
Courtesy Google Earth.
The final installment of Berlin-New York Dialogues took place March 3-7 in Berlin. The DAZ (Deutsch Arkitektur Zentrum, or German Architecture Center), hosted an opening party for AIANY Emerging Practices and several up-and-coming Berlin architects at the GLAZHAUS, and the Berlin-New York Dialogues: Building in Context exhibition, that recently closed at NYC’s Center for Architecture, re-opened to a VIP press party on March 7 in Berlin. I was among many Chapter members who came to both the well attended openings.
The Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA), a professional organization similar to the AIA, played host to the weeklong event. National BDA president Michael Frielinghaus made the trip from Stuttgart to speak about the value of the exchange between the two cities. He and the many National BDA board members who came hoped for even more dialog between the BDA and AIANY.
The week featured mobile workshops in the neighborhood of Kreuzberg, illuminating common struggles of balancing reclaimed industrial waterfronts used for public access with trying to maintain a working waterfront. Planners Ronald Schiffman, FAICP, Hon. AIA (NYC) and Peter Zolinski (Germany) gathered experts to discuss the subtle variations in urban planning approaches. Kreuzberg, for example, marks a surgical, or “tweezers” approach to renewing the neighborhood. Family by family, shop owner by shop owner, changes are made to the urban fabric, succeeding where attempts with large brushstrokes have failed. Using local people as cornerstones differs from an American urban renewal approach that looks to organizations and medium to large commercial enterprises to anchor a neighborhood. The developments in Kreuzberg do not rely on attracting big box stores or developers to construct whole city blocks; rather, individuals and their families implement ideas, making many small yet effective moves.
The Akademie der Kunst on Pariser Platz hosted a “Terrain Vague” dialogue. Presentations by Claire Weisz, AIA, Charles Renfro, AIA, Susan Chin, FAIA, and Greg O’Connell were balanced by Berlin architects Louisa Hutton, RIBA, Markus Bader, Winfred Haefner, and others. Zolinsky and Schiffman closed the event summarizing not only the day, but also the entire exchange over the years.
Berlin can be seen as a “City of Voids,” seeking an identity and historical context that can be proudly expressed by the public. It relies on small entrepreneurs to renew itself in the current economy as it struggles with too few city dwellers and too much land area — half the population of NYC and twice the land area. NYC, on the other hand, constantly renews itself, cycling through economic and social changes. A robust economy and geography have pushed the Terrain Vague, or unused areas in the city, to the perimeter leaving the city center largely closed to the poor or even the middle class. Its urban renewal is often at odds with community groups, developers, and/or city planners. The struggles facing the two cities are similar and the exchange of ideas should help uncover solutions.
Having lived and worked in Berlin in the early 1990s, I saw the possibilities offered by competition proposals and visionary lectures. I lived through the euphoric reunification and its disappointing realities. Berlin is a city still struggling to find its identity as many neighborhoods are still being sewn together. Berlin is a work in progress, as is NYC. The Berlin-New York Dialogue is not just a lengthy symposium but, as Frielinghaus argued, the start of a long learning relationship.
Illya Azaroff, AIA, is the AIANY Vice President of Design Excellence.