Modern Architecture

Buildings of the Twenties – © visitBerlin / Koch

The capital has numerous entries on the Unesco list of World Heritage Sites. The Museuminsel counts as one of them, as well as the Sanssouci Castle—of course. However, in 2008, Unesco’s decision enabled the use of the Berliner Moderne outside of expert-circles, as well as its first social settlements; built in the 20’s, and entered into the list were, namely, the Weiße Stadt ( Reinickendorf, built 1929-1931), the Schillerpark settlement (Wedding, 1924-1930), the “Horseshoe settlement” (Neukölln, 1925-1930), the Ring settlement (Spandau/Charlottenburg, 1929-1934), the residential town Legien (Prenzlauer Berg, 1928-1930) and the “paintbox settlement Falkenberg“ (Treptow, 1913-1919).
Thereby, the six Heritage Protected settlements represent a new type of social housing out of the Classical Modern period. The settlements came into being between the First World War and the National Socialists’ seizure of power. Architects of the Classical Modern, on the highest level, gave a city planning and architectural answer to the housing question of the Imperial Era: efficiently laid out, modern equipped and affordable homes with kitchen, baths and balconies, in buildings without inner courtyard and side-wings, therefore with light, air and sun. The high-quality architectural design, the modern formal language, the functional apartment floor plans and the urban development figures of the settlements delivered internationally discussed and adapted models for the entire 20th century.
The planning and construction of the settlements marked a historic turning point in the city architecture and housing, as it was only possible under the unique political and social conditions in the time following the First World War. As a counter model to private economic build speculation, with their block of flats, they were supposed to realise a new architecture for a new city within a new society. Aesthetic ideas of the avant-garde from art and architecture combined themselves with the social ideas of the political left. Unionised, cooperative and municipal construction organisations became the carriers of this built utopia.
The Shell-Hause in Tiergarten represents a jewel of the early modern, which for many is the most prominent façade of the interwar period. Out of the cultivation of the environment, the office building grows vertically, stepping forth from five to ten storeys, while simultaneously, in a waveform, architecturally answering to the Landwehrkanal. The building is one of the early and rare examples of organic architecture. The office building was erected between 1930 and 1932 under the architect Emil Fahrenkamp, initially the principle office of the Shell daughter Rhenania Ossag Mineralölwerke; it was later shared with the neighbouring High Command of the Navy, and after the War, the main office of BEWAG.