neue wache, unter den linden, berlin
denkmal...
it is as if all german architects today aspire to the pre-minimalist minimalism of the neue wache.
its 1993 refurbishment going back to the original neoclassicism of heinrich tessenow must be a key event in current german architecture - somehow making this piece of architectural palimpsest a viable modernist monument in the eyes of the local practitioners.
and deeply moving it is - but the example to follow in germany must be that of hugo häring, hans scharoun, behnisch und behnisch: an architecture of diversity and individualism rather than high-strung romantic gestures flirting with the void.
ultimately, the purity on display here stems from the very same german idealism whose victims the building in its latest form commemorates.
we took a number of pictures there, the blur of this one shows the quality of light coming from tessenow's single, central, unglazed skylight best.
architect karl friedrich schinkel, 1816-1818. royal guard house.
architect heinrich tessenow, 1931. memorial to the fallen in the great war.
architect unknown (to me), 1933. nazi refurbishment.
architect heinz mehlan, 1960. reconstruction as memorial to the victims of fascism.
artist lothar kwasnitza, 1969. new modernist interior.
artist...helmut kohl (?)...1993. memorial to the victims of war and tyranny.
Tags: berlin minimalism arkitektur architecture skylight tessenow neue wache schinkel palimpsest light denkmal memorial monument germany tyskland arquitectura Architektur arquitetura Architettura Architectuur grey building gebäude haus gebouw bouw bygning batiment maison edificio huis casa deutschland seier+seier creative commons CC
this architect felt he had to compete with the neue wache for purity (see www.flickr.com/photos/seier/493658557 ); but for good political architecture he should have looked to bonn and the open parliament of behnisch und behnisch rather than the grim past of berlin.
paul löbe haus, spreebogen, berlin, stephan braunfels architekten 1994-2000
I'll let ruskin finish this one off, "we must no more expect to derive either pleasure or profit from an architecture whose ornaments are of one pattern, and whose pillars are of one proportion, than we should out of a universe in which the clouds were all of one shape, and the trees all of one size", the nature of gothic in "stones of venice", 1851-1853.
(I take many of these facade photos to use them as textures in 3ds max architectural renderings - only when mister fancypants here comes walking into the scene does it become an image worth sharing)
Tags: berlin architecture concrete minimalism beton grey john ruskin john ruskin paul löbe haus spreebogen stephan braunfels architekten texture wall arquitectura arkitektur Architectuur arquitetura Architektur Architettura building gebäude gebouw bouw bygning batiment maison edificio huis casa seier+seier creative commons CC
free concrete texture from berlin, modern site cast.
link to full size image, 1500x2000 pixels.
sharing my homemade architectural hi-res textures - for those of you who work in 3D or photoshop. they are originally made for renderings in 3D max and tile seamlessly.
uploaded with a CC license. no attribution necessary.
the full set of architectural textures that tile seamlessly here.
more coming
Tags: free texture seamless tileable hi-res 3D map shader material rendering concrete beton berlin modern architecture architectural textures minimalism seier+seier creative commons CC
denkmal für die ermordeten juden europas, architect peter eisenman.
even eisenman fell into the trap of german minimalism.
...somehow this place left me cold (unlike liebeskind's jewish museum which reduced us to tears).
I hope I didn't behave as disrespectfully as the guy in the picture but my mind wandered...it made me think about concrete and prefabrication, and the nature of national penance as opposed to personal...but not so much about the fate of the many many victims. I felt very guilty afterwards.
liebeskind achieved so much more with empty space than eisenman did with tons of stuff. there is a lesson for architects in that. still, there is a lesson for everyone in eisenman's monument and a serious reminder for all in this time of racism and antisemitism.
Tags: berlin architecture concrete peter eisenman monument Stelenfeld Holocaust-Gedenkstätte denkmal memorial beton arquitectura arkitektur Architectuur arquitetura Architektur Architettura building gebäude haus gebouw bouw bygning batiment maison edificio huis casa seier+seier creative commons CC
mies van der rohe, neue nationalgalerie 1962-1968. reflected in a rain-wet granite surface...
this is probably the best building from mies van der rohe's last years when his standards were in such rapid decline. at the academy we were taught that other modernists ruined his legacy but a tour of his less known buildings in north america will tell you that mies was perfectly capable of doing that himself.
Tags: berlin architecture mies van der rohe museum neue nationalgalerie new national gallery art kunst minimalism mirror reflection steel sky sunset modernism temple peristyle column arquitectura arkitektur Architectuur arquitetura Architektur Architettura germany tyskland mies van der rohe glass building house gebäude haus gebouw bouw bygning batiment maison edificio huis casa deutschland museo seier+seier creative commons CC