“The Berlin Apartment Building as a Model” – Book Presentation and Discussion

The event will feature the book launch and a discussion with guests from the fields of architecture and urban planning.

It will take place at the Wasmuth Verlag headquarters against the backdrop of the exhibition “Archetypes of Architecture and Landscape” by Maximilian Meisse, which will also feature photographs from the book.

The book focuses on a highly popular building type that has proven its effectiveness over decades yet plays hardly any role in current urban planning. The Berlin tenement house represents a style of construction that combines durability, adaptability, and urban quality: robust construction, flexible floor plans, and the ability to accommodate a wide variety of uses across generations.

Tobias Nöfer, AIV board member and co-editor of the book: “This building type is gaining new relevance, particularly in light of today’s demands for densification, sustainability, and resource conservation.

The buildings developed in the 19th century demonstrate how far-sighted investments can be justified through long service life, repairability, and continuous adaptation. They combine serial construction with architectural individuality while simultaneously creating the urban density that defines a functioning city.

This model must be applied to contemporary construction methods in order to build beautiful cities with comparable efficiency and equally limited resources. At the same time, it becomes clear that the view of the apartment building remains shaped by ideological attributions to this day, ranging from criticism of the ‘stone city’ to current debates on gentrification.

The publication argues for a fresh look at this building type as a concrete model for future urban development.

The book presents the urban planning, architectural, ecological, and social qualities of the Berlin tenement building and explores which characteristics can serve as a model today.

Meisse’s approximately 100 photographs offer a fresh perspective on outstanding examples, in Friedenau or Charlottenburg as well as in Prenzlauer Berg or Treptow.