Berlin Fernsehturm : Rendering Visual identity to a city's skyline
As a student of architecture, I had the chance of learning about many landmark buildings that define a skyline, making it easier for the people around the world to identify the city. While on our project site visit to Marzahn, I was sitting in the bus seemingly lost in the hazy morning looking at the seamless architecture as one building blend in to another in the distance, my opportunity to experience one such icon was so incredible that I just couldn't take my eyes off the sphere apparently floating in mid air on its lean support. Rising into the sky like a raised hand in a class of pupil, trying to grab the attention of their teacher, going higher and higher. In a city divided by its political history, each one trying to outdo other by miles, the conceptualization of an identity to showcase the country's technological advancement and power had become a necessity. The then leader of Socialist unity party, Walter Ulbricht's idea was to club it together with the need of the hour, broadcasting, and give East Berlin and the Socialist governance an element to project their supremacy over the West. Though the earlier plans was to locate the tower in MĂźggelberge, it was dropped due to the planned operation of nearby SchĂśnefeld airport and thus decided to construct in Alexanderplatz which would be visible from west Germany too.