"Spazieren in Berlin" Author(s): Dagmar Richter Source: Assemblage, No. 29 (Apr., 1996), pp.

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Dagmar Richter,site plan for the Spreebogen

Dagmar Spazieren

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Dagmar Richter is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design, at the Universityof California, Los Angeles, and an architect with studios in Berlin and Los Angeles.

It has been nearlya year and a half since I relocated temporarily Berlin, in order, to in part,to watch the events surrounding the reconstructionof the German capital. My expectationsfor the city were comparable to those for Madridand Barcelona afterFranco. The prospectof being a "flaneuse"in Berlin intriguedme. The more so as WalterBenjamin had noted in 1929 that the flaneur, strangelyenough, had finally arrivedin that city afterBenjamin had deemed him to have disappeared everywhereelse: "One has to know that the Berlinershave changed slowly," he wrote, "theirproblematicpride to have founded a capital has made space for an attempt to redefine Berlin as a place."' Today, the city is again busy being proud - problematicallyenough - to have once more claimed the title of the capital of Germany. A new Griinderzeithas been declared by the building and construction senate. Benjamin, in discussing Franz Hessel's book Spazieren in Berlin (Strolling in Berlin), proclaimed, "How he celebrates the old culture of domesticity!";but he added: "the last ones - as it is in the spiritof our time that this type of domestic culture in the old sense, where coziness [Geborgenheit]is the dominant concept, is doomed to die. Giedion,

Mendelsohn, Corbusier have transformed the place of residence foremost into a transitionalspace of all thinkable forces and waves of light and air. What will be from now on stands in the spirit of transSince Berlin East and West parency."2 merged in 1989 and the city was opened up to a sudden cultural storm from all sides, its space has rapidlybecome foremost the "transitional space of all thinkable forces"predicted by Benjamin. The local outspoken (mostly formerWestern) intellectuals, planners, and architects who had survivedso snugly in the old culture of domesticity were not pleased by this spirit of transparency,too accustomed as they were to sailing in West Germany's ship of fools. "Building for Democracy!"proclaimed Peter Rumpf in 1993 in the architectural magazine Bauwelt, reviewing the International Berlin Spreebogen Competition, in which the newly reconstitutedGerman capital was to be spatiallyformulated: "This awfully overly stresseddictum is as easy as it is misunderstandable.Openness, popularity,transparency,cheerfulness, relaxedness,call it 'democracy,'is so easily and readily equated with dispersed urban space, a dislike of symmetryand axes, with a lot of glass and light construc-

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tions, just like a Behnisch in Bonn or a Scharoun in Berlin. This change, by mistake, of an inner political ethical posture with a certain outer form has alreadyproduced a failure of many discussions about this in endless, resultless, aimless talks."3 Rumpf seemed ratherat ease in declaring, without furtherexplanation, this wish of democratic representation to be a total "illusion." The urban design idea competition for the German government compound produced an overwhelming number of eight hundred seventeen proposalsthat were deemed complete by the invited jury.The statisticsare astounding: projectswere submitted from all over the globe, with vast numbers from the United States, Russia, EasternEurope, Asia, and Africa;the first-prizewinner came from Berlin itself; of the firstfour prizes, three went to Germans and one to a Swiss;all rewardedand cited projectswere European aside from one mention that was given to Morphosisfrom the United States. These projectswere extensively published in the European press. A few of the ninety Americanprojects made it into the magazines,such as project in Assemblage,or Asymptote's ARX'sproject,which representedPortugal but included Americansand Japaneseon the team, in ANY. Many of these tried to investigatethe possibilityof takinga critical view towardGermany'srecent history with the help of "thisoverlystresseddictum"of representingtheir idea of democracyformally.These projectsrepresenta group of architecturaldesignerswho were unable to disconnect the ordersof the future parliamentfrom their interpretation of ideological content in form. Indeed, this "illusion"has also been regardedas a dictum with moral content by quite a number of designers,architects,and critics in Berlin lately. The formaloutcome

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By first collecting different maps of the Spreebogen site, we have initiated an investigation rooted in a political interpretation of Berlin'sspatial representations, where these maps mirrorpolitical power. Thisprocess of collection, discrimination,and modification has criticallyinterpreted the site's history, mapped by distinct prevalent, successive, and simultaneous political and cultural concepts of order throughout recent history. Our process of formal transformation of the signs latent in these maps seeks to find a space that represents democracy as a layered, diverse, and flexible system. A swarm of short parallel lines, broken off the axes implemented by Speer and the Prussian nobility, orders our proposal. Additionally, these lines are augmented by stitchings that take the form of the long, stretched curves that appear on maps depicting the varied routes of the river. These elements negotiate among the Parliament,the different events, and the movements in the city. Formalbreaks defined as "unreasonableoases" - in this project appearing as voids that create open membranes and unpredictable moments have been taken from former maps, where cartographerstried to reflect the found conditions of the site. A technique of folding and overlapping these found and transformedorders results in a new abstract urban landscape where each government structure closely relates to specific views and events in the city. The different spatial orders overlap and exist simultaneously, but do not search for a reductive and highly edited answer with artificial clarity, cultural simplicity, or a reflection of stasis, timelessness, and authoritarian comfort. Instead, the new structure encompasses simultaneous realities at all times.

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between the differentmoral representatives could not have been more opposite. On the one side of the spectrum,it seemed necessaryfor a number of American entrantsin the Spreebogencompetition to distance themselves from the expectation that the architect'srole was to affirmthe existingpolitical power uncritically.The outcome was to be expected: none of these projectscame close to being seriouslyconsidered.Yet most of these offices seemed content for their contributionto serve more as a text thrown into the fierce debate unfolding within this architecturalmegaevent at the end of the century. The winner was, of course, a local of representative the other side of this moral debate, who advocatedthe development of Berlin in traditionalterms. His design was consideredthe representation and propercraftsmanship of "orderly ... not conceptual castles in the air"and described as local, clear, strongas Washington or Chandigarhwithout forgetting that it was "typicalBerlin."4 "'Berlinmust look like Berlin' - But what does that mean?"wrote Paul Goldberger in February 1995 in the New YorkTimes Magazine.5The winning project representedthe new German spirit of "ethical architecture."This new movement is put in direct context formally with an orthogonal minimalist expression using traditionalmaterialsand construction methods typical of Berlin and Zurich. The building senate of Berlin, localized on the Left of the political spectrum, with the help of critic Vittorio Lampugnani and Berlin architects Jiurgen Sawade, Josef Paul Kleihues, and Hans Kollhoff, on the Right of the spectrum, have dominated the public marketwith a very loud insistence on the "illusion"of a direct relation of minimalist form to moral content. The senate has made certain that this new partyline is the only

acceptable expressionfor central Berlin. Interestinglyenough, the two extremely oppositional political groups could position themselves together to ensure the cultural hegemony of the upper class representingstate power. The critical American voices who thought to have the ethics on their side have been branded, in the meantime, as cultural enemies. These numerous critical voices, which were still heard in the Spreebogen competition, have since been widely silenced. A veryfew have been deemed cooperative enough to serve as the publicly sanctioned opposition:Daniel Libeskind,who not only functions as the official Americanbut also as the official Jew, has through this status,reached a place untroubledby any serious criticismin Germany.This sanctuaryhas allowed his office finallyto build, but the work is now confrontedwith an intellectuallydeadly lack of debate combined with a personalitycult of nearly unseen dimension. Statementslike "Libeskindis an intellectual, but the city is a social system,and everyhouse has to workas partof society. I have no problem with Libeskind.Libeskindhas a problem with me" by senate building directorHans Stimmann show not only how the dictate of Berlin'sstyle has been themed for easy populist consumption, but also how the architecturaldebate has startedto suffer the same malaise.6Catch phraseson or by the celebratedfew occupy the pressin much the same way as the icon of Philip selfJohnson - in the form of a forty-foot in front of his construction portraithung site - occupies the public space. Berlin learned from LasVegas without knowing it, or at least without admittingit. Aftermy experiences in Los Angeles before I left for Berlin, I would dare to suggestthat Berlin will become the firststate-organized media of surface.It will surpassour expectacity tions of Las Vegas, Disney, and City Walk.

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The nature of government itself is being reexamined and redefined globally. No longer does a monolithic, static, unchangeable image suffice to provide architectural meaning. Government is now seen as dispersed and integrated into the urban fabric. It is a living entity and as such it is fluid, open, transformable, and symbolic of the diverse culture it leads. At the same time, it must be coherent and rational in order for its constituents to comprehend it. Ourproject addresses the varied edge conditions of the Spreebogen site. The river is symbolic of life, commerce, movement, flux, beauty, and, as a place that marks the birth of the city, it plays an important part in the development of our formal language. A second edge condition is apparent in the location of the site between the Tiergartenand the larger urban fabric of Berlin. Thiscircumstance further reinforces the importance of a language that allows for fluidity, for a weaving together of disparate topographies. And, finally, there is the memory of the Wall, that edge which will be part of Berlin'scollective memory forever. Thus the architectural language developed here is one of a lyrical weaving or braiding of long, sensually shaped building types that are evocative of a system of walls. In stark contrast to the Wall of memory, however, these new walls are a connective tissue. Theyare osmotic; in most cases, they are lifted off the ground, making any reference to a barrierimpossible. By virtue of their porosity, these wall-like buildings invite transgression of their boundaries, defying notions of stasis, closure, and fixity. As a result, the scheme is conceived as a dynamic entity, one that conceptually grows and could adapt to future changes and additions.

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ContemporaryBerlin has a residual tripartite structure - the two, divided cities of its recent past and the current unified metropolis. Acknowledging this tripartite structure, our proposal engages the historical, cultural, architectural,and programmatic aspects of the Spreebogen site. It does so by initiating new development and by accommodating and registering existing or planned buildings, surrounding site conditions, and earlier formations through two strategic devices that are architecturallyinflected: mirroring and mediating. Aspects of the existing or preceding built fabric are mirrored through specific new elements, and in each case, the two components are mediated by a third, which serves to diversify and activate the site. As an example of these devices, the Platz der Republikmediates the existing Reichstag and the planned Bundesrat,the site of which is designated by a reflective plane visible from a distance and physicallytraversed.Similarly,a Media Gardenacts as a connective device between the Chancelleryand the Press Club,establishing a relationship between the private aspects of press activity and the public sphere at the site of media distribution and reception. The Open Space Parkexpands throughout the site in contrast to the dense and mature growth of the Tiergarten.Thispark is then mediated by paths and routes of movement that interconnect as well as occupy the site as a whole, articulating a relationship between the site and the Tiergarten.The map of the proposal, then, comprises three layers: the field of open, green, and pedestrian spaces that interconnect with the city beyond the periphery of the site; paths and encampments creating movement and events within the site as well as links to the existing transportationsystems;and, finally, event spaces, mirroringspaces, and mediating spaces that house program and become the sites of overlap for variousactivities.

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1. Section of three typical Berlin blocks from the end of the nineteenth century 2. Section of the three buildings of FriedrichstadtPassagen, from left to right, Jean Nouvel, Pei, Cobb and Freed, and 0. M. Ungers

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Sincethe German Berlin reunification, hasexperienced onslaught speculaan of tiveinterventions itsrealestatemarinto ket.In thisframework, question size the of hascertainly than becomemoreimportant the question architectural of "The culture. fallof the Wallhastriggered construca tioninvestment worth billionsof dollars, the structural expressing fundamental of transformationBerlin," Stimmann for wrotein his introduction the book tanMix.'The cityblock- once a regulatoryelementusedbyandforthe entire the investor cityto control individual hasbecome,in the newspeculative climateof state-owned largely and statereal a organized estate, singular building. doesthisnewbuilding Onlyon the surface typecommititselfto a cityblockstructure of a consistent heightof twenty-two meters. simulates It structure through the heightof the street shapebyregulating visualorder, but edgeasa superficial and structural neglectsit as a regulatory control instrument. After environmental the fallof the Wallthe building authorities defined above-street the quickly heightas a consistent forthe former rule eastern
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clear central area,butfailedto provide fordensity, size,parking parcel guidelines and of requirements, number underfloors. a consequence, new As the ground in blockbuildings the recently proposed for of Berlinconsist nearly projects central as as manyfloors abovethe street there will be below,as one cansee in the The Friedrichstadt Passagen projects. blocks oftenbe connected will different underthe street the through lowerfloors. witha fewexhas Housing beenerased, of city ceptions the twenty-percent requireofficeprojects mentsforthe speculative thatoccupyentirely newconstruction the of central Berlin. EastBerlin Mostof the landof the former wasownedby the state,whotookownershipthrough politicalmeans.The new has Germany thusbecomethe biggest landownerin the eastern of the city. part the stateregulations remaining Through who haveoftenleft individual owners, for are Germany, reimbursed theirlots. witha set andusuallyundervalued price. to The statethen resellsthe superblocks firmsmostlylocatedin largeinvestment and Berlinwithminimalformal proce-

of Daimler-Benz Potsdamer at Platz, whichtriggered accusation the an at Courtthatthe German state European wasillegally to subsidize own its trying is industry, butone example. The winningdesignforthe developmentof the future centeraround city an Alexanderplatz proposes architecturally monochrome that megastructure visually resembles historic a blockstructure. the of Through erasure the entiresocial andbuilding fabric the former of East German an state,HansKollhoff promises landandinvestment uncomplicated The proposed architectural model profit. is inevitably for suitable thisnewformof fastprofit and regulated organized the by It comesas no surprise that government. the newbuilding typepromoted the by winnerin theAlexanderplatz competition not onlyfillsthe entireblockincluding the former but courtyard, it additionally usesthe onlyvisually individual blockas a basefora skyscraper on positioned topof it. The project namedbysome"Dewas lirious the Alexanderplatz," reflecting famous by painting Madelon Vriesendorp forRemKoolhaas's Delirious York.' New of The definition the block,once a rule forflexiblestrategies smaller for individual investment was transactivities, further into formed Kollhoff a conceptof a by monochrome totally strongly regulated, of officesuperstructure thirteen blocks, to whichhe nowdeclared be "thelarge of cozycitylivingroom" Berlin.If this fits Benjamin's description Walter reading of a Berlinfinallytrying defineitselfas to a modern of the placebeyond idealization of domesticity a smalltown,it is a rather choiceof reference. much The interesting of that too complex structure reality consistsof masshousingbuiltbythe former has GDRatAlexanderplatz beenidealized intoa tabularasacondition wherea

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Andrew Zago
Traditionally,architecture has defined the social sphere and given it its vital sense, but today this political dimension of architecture has been almost completely lost to other fields. Architecture is no longer the primaryarena for shaping the public's engagement with the world. It finds itself in the culturaland social margins because it has been unable to confront and transformits outdated spatial premise, characterizedby the definition of object boundaries, a durabilityin time, and regular projective geometries. Ourproposal for the BerlinSpreebogen applies this criticismto a large scale. It confronts a series of complex issues arising from the four scales of the context, addressing each simultaneously both in form and function: the immediate site and its local interface; the city of Berlin,its urban form, and physical history;the capital complex reflecting a national identity, the nation of Germany;and, finally, the preeminent nation within the global sphere. Given these conditions, our project challenges conventional representations of power by creating a structure that is at once one thing and many things. A series of formal and programmaticcomponents are interwoven to perform a complex urban, national, and international role and to produce a field of relationships that is neither hierarchicalnor random. Thisfield symbolizes the dynamicsof a modern democracyand its vital lines of communication, in which spheres of power no longer coincide with geopolitical boundaries. It resonates with a global dissolution of clearly delineated entities of commerce, ethnicity, communication,politics, and science. Our project makes an opening in the city by creating a topological exception to the urban fabric. It is a permeable and convoluted entity, appearing in many forms and eluding clear outline. Although the project consists of four distinct components, they act in mutual interference, where one alters the other, and are interwoven to create a differentiated whole.

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3. Illustrationof Kollhoff's Alexanderplatz proposal new monumental and prestigiouscommercial center is to be formulated. Berlin has shown lately that architects and architecturalstyle can be employed in a most direct sense as a vehicle to silence resistance through staged cultural debates. One example is a very loud insistence on architecturalstyle as a democratic means of city planning. The motto used can be described as a nationalist model of an anti-American,proPrussian European city, understood only by a few selected, mostly German and sometimes Central European firms. "Catch phrasessuch as 'anythinggoes' or, in the context of American cities, theories such as 'Learningfrom Las Vegas,' are not only out of place but destructivein a city such as Berlin, which is so firmly rooted in the European architectural tradition,"concludes Stimmann in defense of his rigorousformal dictate.9The request for a more democratic development, participation,and diversityis permanently quenched as an "American model" leading to an "Americancity." America, and this includes certain English trends, is said to have too greata cultural hegemony as an old occupying power from the Second World War.

Kleihues, the jurychairman of the Alexanderplatz competition, statedsome time ago in an attemptto discreditRichard Rogers,who has workedon an alternative for the PotsdamerPlatz developmentfor the investorgroup:"We should askourselves what 'flexible systems'by Richard Rogersactuallyhas to do with Berlin: 'Flexible systems'is empirical - but Berlin is a city of idealism. Certain people will never understandthis. Something is being insertedinto Berlin that reflects and another philosophicalframework concept."" Under these circumstances,it to seems surprising see Kollhoffwin the Alexanderplatz competition with a very American model in mind. The typical architect claimed to have copied directly New York'sRockefellerCenter. It becomes quickly obvious that anti-Americanism is used mainly when needed to defend building commissions by Berlin offices. In the culturaldebate of Germany,xenophobia has had the upper hand lately, which providesa useful tool. "In philosophy over the last decades rationalityand logic, the bone structureof our Western culture, has been melted wrote through cloudy irrationality," Vittorio Lampugnani, one of the conservative architects and architecturalcritics. "Until the 1920s architecturewas defined in the old German Reich through extremely high quality .... The same can be said about the architectureof the national socialist era .... This tradition rupturesabruptlyafter 1945. Together with the Nazi dictate, the architecture that representedthis power was entirely eliminated; and with that unfortunately also traditionalproperness [Gediegenheit]. S.. Now architecturehas rigorouslyto mirrorthe seriousness of the historical situation."Lampugnani wrote this text, entitled "The Provocationof the Banal,"

in the popular magazine Der Spiegel to advocate for his kind of architecture.The text is littered with adjectives that belittle the architecturalstyle he disapprovesof: "easypictures ... superficial sensation ... tormented lightness . .. wild growth ... The terrible nosy new interpretation." behind it: "crypticphilosophy of theory uncertainty."" In this article, moreover,which starteda fierce, polemical discussion on architecturalstyle in the public, Lampugnani glorifiesthe period before and during the Nazi governmentby depicting the architecture that developed then as orderly, aesthetic, well detailed, of high quality, clarity,and solidity. Newer architecture, by contrast,is showeredwith the type of adjectivesimportedto describe the feminine in the 1960s:chattery,exuberant, irrational,lovely, domesticated, uncourageous,talentless,nosy, wild, prudish, exhibiting innovationthat is only attitude.What is astoundingis the total self-confidencewith which a pile of dedescriptionsand assessmentshas rogatory been throwntowardthe supposeduser as well as the enemy architect.Modern, theory-influencedarchitectureis deemed by the authoras too complex and difficult for the common citizen to understand. What the people need, writesLampugnani, is simple geometricalformsand repetition,an easily readable,conventional, monotone, economical building in short,a properand decent building. Lampugnani's argumentsare structurally interesting,as he arguesagainstconsumable picturesand novelty for novelty'ssake as well as againstunreasonablewaste. What seems difficult to follow is in what sense these points are specificallybound and defined by certainarchitecturalexpressionsand geometries.No studies have proven any of these quasi-economicargu-

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Architecture is a form of knowledge - culturally determined as well as culturally determining - and a form of writing in which traces can be read pertaining to the program, the urban context, philosophical assumptions, general concepts, poetic contents, and production methods. These allow multiple forms of interpretation intimating the simultaneous occurrence of several ideas. Architecture is not pure; it is contaminated by a multiplicity of forces and accepts unfinished moments within the work, ruptures, discontinuities, disorder, contradictions. Architecturemight be considered an open field operating within open systems. It is inherently political, but its role within the context of politics must be rethought. In this sense, architectureshould not support one specific ideology, but should offer readings about the mechanismsof power and allow a place for the uncovering of ideological structures. Thisproposal is, therefore, conceived not for the representation of the government, but as a factory for politics, a place for production. It is a place for work - not only for the ruling party, but also for the opposition, the minority, for groups and lobbies supporting their specific interests, for committee members and their enormous task forces, and, most specifically for the twentieth century, a place for a
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No longer in the chambers of assembly, in speeches for the media cameras, at official party meetings, contemporary politics is instead made in the corridors,at secret meetings, on the telephone. It is made in places in-between. Architecture, in other words, does not offer a center for political action: rather, it defines the margins in which politics might occur. Changes in the political arena, often abrupt and unexpected, necessitate changes in architectural understanding. The potential for developments (incorporating the factor of time) needs to determine a new approach to architecture, architecture that exists in a state of flux.

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I have termed this project the "Tracesof the Unborn" to describe the need to resist the selective erasure of history, the need to respond to history, the need to open the future: that is, to delineate the invisible on the basis of the visible. Thisproposal developed certain planning and architectural concepts that reflect my commitment to the memory of the city, to the time in which it dwells, and to the freedom it represents. Alexanderplatz is positioned as a center point of the united Berlin. The proposal opens the area and emphatically rejects the idea that public space needs to be closed in an urban room. My design relies on the history of Alexanderplatz to resist such willfully imposed planning concepts. It calls for immediate interaction with the existing by supplementing and subverting, stabilizing and destabilizing, the network of traffic, street patterns, and building. In advocating the acceptance of the existence of the DDR,which represents almost fifty years of building, even the prefabricated and ill-conceived buildings should not be singled out for demolition, but rather incorporated in an ecologically responsive manner. The contradictions inherent in bringing together the mass housing of the former DDRwith high density commercial development are mediated by a major urban park that would act as a field thematizing the ruin of time. In this competition, I have rejected the option of erasing the history of the city; instead, my proposal gradually improves the public space, traffic, and organization of Alexanderplatz without relying on some hypothetical "time-in-the-future" when Alexanderplatz would be perfect. The given is not treated as an obstacle or seen as a form of pathology, but rather viewed as an opportunity pregnant with new relations and new urban experiences. In refuting the past and the future alike, the eternal present of transformation and metamorphosis are used as strategies for the creation of unpredictable, flexible, and hybrid architecture. From this structure emerge forms whose individual expression and representation are indistinguishable from the political space they occupy, treating the city as an evolving and poetic event.

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ments. The architectureof the new era looks expensive, uses exuberantmaterials, is still defined by the same type of master architect'ssignature,and has not been shown to achieve a cheaper per-squarefoot cost or a longer durationof life. The argumenthas until now been reduced to the "look"not the overallcontent. The city structureitself is never discussed in Berlin. The debate over style and how the city is to be themed overshadowreal oppositionagainsta structuralbrutalization of Berlin. Through rigorousdictates, Stimmann prescribedthe veneers of the faqadesof central Berlin. He defined a soArchitektur selectively called Berlinische by declaringa certain architecturefrom the 1920s as the Berlin model. The prescription is made veryclear: "Atthe beginning of this workstandsthe call to resume and continue the traditionof metropolitan Berlin commercial architecturethat was interruptedin the 1930s.... These office and commercial buildings, erected in the context of existing blocks, stand as examples of the currentdemand for a 'stone architecture.'This demand is based on the conviction that an urbanatmosphere derivesfrom the emphasized materialityof the city. High-tech buildings consisting solely of glass or displayingall their structuralelements cannot allow the creation of a city in a traditionalsense. A European city needs walls and openings that mark the transitionbetween building and Stimmann startedan outcryof city.""2 protestfor individualityin the most superficial way. No one seemed to have realized that the loss of individualityhas already happened within a much more central structuralsystemof real estate speculation aided by the government. This reflects a new transformedsystem of state and corporatecapitalism that Daniel

Libeskind was unwilling to follow in his proposalfor the Alexanderplatzdevelopment, for which he was awardedsecond prize. Libeskind'sproject reflects an attempt to open up a system inherited from the East to the possibilityof individual and smaller investments in the city, using the existing structuresand transformingthe physical realitywith the help of time and direct engagement. Time is essential, as the opportunityto position oneself economically and politically as an old and new user has barely been given. Berlinershave not yet created a "place"in the Benjaminian sense. The inner city is overwhelmed with fast and easy pictures of total progresscombined with aggressivefights about the image Berlin should create. Meanwhile, rents for offices are alreadyfalling dramatically as many individual investorshave moved to the city edge in order to build less expensively. The individual investor,the owner of the individual lot, and the present user of the center have had no chance to engage in building, for the state has indeed so dominated the debate over style as to make it impossible for small groups to endure the prolonged construction time that has ensued. In Libeskind'sproposal,at least, the city is given a flexible regulatorysystem that is structurally,not just visually, based on the historic block structure.The proposed structurereflects a modern society without having to expressthis idea of the modern through a style. The former East Germans living in the central city are treated as members of society that deserve serious consideration - something with which the West Germans have so far failed to come to terms. Existing complexities are used for a strategyof flexible localized city making void of nationalist idealist and utopian undertones. It is full

of possibilities to invite a diverse and heterogeneous society. This is an architecture that reflects the new Germany that has for yearsdeveloped through immigration and individual initiative, a Germany that has alreadybecome modern in a sociological sense, even if this point has been entirely silenced in the discussion up to now. My time as a meanderer in Berlin was up last summer. The experience left me in expectation of the arrivalof a new theme park,a city themed in the image of Europe and America of the nineteenth and very early twentieth centuries where the opportunities that arose from the ecowere aimed, with nomic transformation the help of the state, at eliminating cultural and economic diversityin order for the upper class to secure its taste as the sole representativeof all. Benjamin's search for transparencyand the ability to move beyond the problematic pride in having attractedthe title of capital toward the making of a vital place has once more failed to materialize.'3

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Notes
1. Walter Benjamin, "Die Widerkehrdes Flaneurs":Zu Franz Hessels 'Spazieren in Berlin,"'in Angelus Novus, Ausgewiihlte Schriften 2 (Frankfurtam Main: Suhrkamp, 1966), 417 (my trans.). 2. Benjamin, "Die Widerkehrdes Flaneurs,"419 3. Peter Rumpf, "Klarheitim Spreebogen und Lehrgeld beim Reichstag,"Bauwelt 14-15 (April 1993): 84 (my trans.). 4. Paul Zlonicky, "Leitbild ftordas Parlamentsund Regierungsviertel," FoyerBerlin:Magazin der Senatsverwaltung Bau und fiir Wohnungswesen5 (December 1992): 12 (my trans.).The magazine FoyerBerlin is edited and organized by the Berlin Senate for Building and Housing and is regarded as the official government publication. 5. Paul Goldberger, "'BerlinMust Look Like Berlin' - But What Does That Mean?: Rebuilding the Capital of Europe," New York Times Magazine, 5 February 1995, sec. 6, 45. 6. Hans Stimmann; quoted in Goldberger, 'Berlin Must Look Like Berlin,' 48. 7. Hans Stimmann, "New Berlin Office and Commercial Buildings," in Annegret Burg, Downtown Berlin: Building the MetropolitanMix / Berlin Mitte: Die Entstehung einer urbanenArchitektur (Berlin and Boston: Birkhiuser, 1995), 7. 8. Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York(New York:Oxford University Press, 1978). 9. Hans Stimmann, "Conclusion: From Building Boom to Building Type," in Downtown Berlin, 211.

10. Josef Paul Kleihues, "Der PotsdamerPlatz hitte einen Elitiren Prozess Verdient!"an interview with Werner Oechslin on the development of Berlin, Archithese2 (1992): 29. 11. Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, "Die Provokation des Alltiglichen: Ftir eine neue Konvention des Bauens,"Der Spiegel 51 (1993): 142-47 (my trans.). 12. Stimmann, "New Berlin Office and Commercial Buildings," 17. 13. During the final editing of this text, the partypolitics of Berlin changed once more as the result of the recent elections. On 19 January 1996 a headline in the Berliner Morgenpostannounced "The End of the Stimmann Era."The accompanying article read:"The era of directorof the Building Senate Hans Stimmann is going to end. Through the change of the building resortto the Christian Democratic party,the days of the member of the Social Democrats [Stimmann] are numbered. This will take place soon, especially since Mayorof Berlin EberhardDiepken has stated 'that it will be a blessing for Berlin if Stimmann couldn't make all that trouble.' Stimmann'slast wordsto the paper were 'I'm cleaning my desk now.' The end of an era of this kind could spur some small hope that the attempt to redefine Berlin as a place would slowly begin." Berliner Morgenpost,19 January1996, 9 (my trans.).

Figure Credits
1-3. Drawings by Dagmar Richter assisted by Tomoharu Ono. All other images courtesy of the architects. Projecttextshave been edited from statementsprovidedby the architects.

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