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Memo From Berlin: People Are Talking About

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 3/19/2013 8:00:00 AM

Kulturpark Plänterwald in Berlin's Treptower Park -- where it attracted school children visiting Berlin from other Eastern Bloc countries. Photo courtesy of Kulturpark

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The construction of the Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport, designed by GMP—von Gerkan, Marg und Partner Architects has turned into a hugely expensive debacle—several high officials were canned due to serious underestimates in opening date and cost. As of now, the unveiling is scheduled for 2014.

With the closure of Berlin Tempelhof Airport and soon Berlin Tegel Airport, major tracks of land are being reintroduced into the city's urban landscape. Heated debate revolves around what will be done with these sprawling landmasses and the areas around them, now no longer in the flight path.

In 2010, Tempelhof Airport reopened as park and event space Tempelhofer Freiheit and in 2011, landscape architecture firm Gross.Max. and architecture firm Sutherland Hussey Architects were selected to add park amenities including paths and facilities for children and elderly.

Tegel Airport development is still very much in the planning stage, but a popular suggestion is Urban Tech Republic, an industrial research park that, if built, would be dedicated to Berlin's growing technology industry.

Another intriguing space generating buzz is a section of the Treptower Park forest along the Spree River, where dinosaurs still roam in an abandoned amusement park. Built in 1969, Kulturpark Planterwald, later renamed to Spreepark, offers a rare glimpse of a space dedicated to pleasure during the reign of the GDR. In 2012, a group of artists raised over $26,000 on Kickstarter to transform the grounds with art and urban design, but the future of the park remains uncertain.

While rebuilding Berlin's royal palace, or Stadtschloss (destroyed during WWII, and demolished in 1950) is no longer up for debate, this is another project that can get Berliner collars up due to its outrageous price tag, clocking in at 590 million euro (about $778.5 million). Greenlighted in 2011 and designed by Franco Stella, the new Stadtschloss is slated for completion in 2018.

Adding to the mix is the discovery of a cabaret theater, buried under 30 tons of rubble in 1934 to halt the festivities it encouraged. Architecture firm LAVA will transform the 1905 building—designed by renowned German architect Oscar Garbe—into a small-scale performance and event space with luxury apartments.

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Memo From Berlin: New Builds
Memo From Berlin: What's Trending
Memo From Berlin: Insider's Take

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Ha..I only discovered now that you were mentioning in your article the Tempelhofer Freiheit.

I have lived more than 6 years in the area closeby..the Schillerkiez and in the beginning I thought: WOW..great idea to open up a big park for the people in this social hot spot area ..

On the other hand...I had problems to understand the decision..because just couple of yards further down is another huge park , called Hasenheide, really beautiful, huge lawns, places to play soccer, pipes for skaters etc.

So..what happened after the former airfield was opened for the public?
More and more people from other areas went there, mostly alternatives, youngsters with lots of beerbottles in their backpacks which they had the generousity to smash on the roads of my former neighborhood, littering on the road so that sometimes you had the feeling that after the weekend a war was over!
In the beginning I went to the park also with my inline skaters but gave up after a while because most people abused the new space to organize their barbequeue whereever they found some free space and gave a f***about other peoples interests! The lawns besides the old runways look horrible and dirty after a weekend, quarrels between germans on the one side and turks and arabs migrants on the other side because the newcomers from other countries simply cant see very often a reason why they should take their junk with them when they have finished their barbecue orgies. Result: you will hardly find elderly people on the Tempelhofer Feld and its hardly a place for recreation for working people now!
cornel prüsse - 2013-04-08 22:14:28 EDT

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