Berlin Through Observation

A R C H I T E C T U R E

In Berlin there is a lot of interesting architecture ranging from old to new buildings. With a stark contrast from the old and new. With the old often being very grand and often constructed out of large bricks of solid stone and designed to be very imposing on the people that walk past and used the buildings. How ever the newer buildings are often made for glass and steal beams and thins tiles of stone to cover the concert walls. In the city centre there is often a mix of the old and new standing side by side. In some cases the two styles are mixed together in the same building to create a interesting mix.

Apartments

Offices

D E S I G N Berlin has a abundance in in design form interesting shapes in buildings and and the surroundings. to imposing reminders of the past such as the Berlin Wall that separated East from West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Then the Holocaust Memorial where a 19,000 square meter site has be covered in concert blocks that range in hight from 0.2 to 4.7Â m. There is a 1.3 Km section of the Berlin wall that the city has turned in to a start art gallery. this is very interesting to go see as it takes away the idea of what the wall represented but there are some pantings that bring the cold reality of what happened back in to light.

F U R N I T U R E In the Bauhaus – Archive there was a display of house hold goods and furniture. This was very interesting to see as there was a clear design through out all the items of simplistic and designed for a purpose. This was represented also around the city of Berlin with public arias for people to use. The designs showed that nothing needs to be over designed to work and in most cases that a well designed product does not need to be complicated to function and look good.

R E T A I L There where a lot of retail shops in the centre and out secrets of Berlin ranging for the cheep memorabilia shops all the way to the high end designer home and clothes shops. One of the places that we went to was bikini Berlin. This is a concept shopping mall that houses a wide range of little start up shops and brand names that are not yet established in Germany or the rest of the world. The idea is to try and move away from the big brand changes that often culture the high street of any masher city. And give the spotlight to any up and coming brand or shop.

S T R E E T _ A R T

Just walking around the streets of Berlin offers a lot to see whether it is the stress them selfs of the graphite that covers them on every corner and lamppost. All the way to little independent are galleries that littler the back streets of the city. Like bikini Berlin these little galleries offer the spot light to up and coming artist that want to get there name out there for people to see. But the street them self are very investing to look at as they are very wide and in most cases can see right down to the end with a wide range of shops and iterating little buildings on the sides.