Lending Libaries for Berlin: Poro[city] for the Green and Grey | Section I

Berlin: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Led by Miguel Parades Maldonado, Andrew Brooks, Andrea Faed and Jack Green 2023-24, ESALA, The University of Edinburgh

LENDING LIBRARIES FOR BERLIN: PORO[CITY] FOR THE GREEN AND GREY

CARL HARRIS

With thanks to my colleagues Folahan Adelakun and Oliver Maxwell, for your valuable discussions in our symposiums, advice, hard work and laughs whilst developing this thesis.

Tiergarten is possibly the most public urban space in Berlin. The almost utopian urban quality developed in Tiergarten is the idea of maximum dimension of tolerance, coexistence and personal freedom, but with a sense of community1.

pictured | Tiergarten in the fall | October 2023

Berlin is a city where temporalities collide in unexpected ways through the actions of individuals and grounds - living, deceased, and not yet born, as they make places in search for what it means to be German

unexpected living, as for and German2

pictured | The centre of Berlin is largely built on pilings due to its close proximity to the water table. It is said that anyone drilling a few yards into the ground will hit water. Thus, the pink pipes of Schöneberg embed themselves into the landscape extracting water from the marshy amalgamation of soil, sand and swampland below. It has been known for architects and developers to appoint divers to install foundation base plates for many of the sky-high buildings as the openings become entirely submerged.

pictured | An sectional perspective vignette cutting through the wood workshop of The Components of the Craft proposal for Schöneberg.

rendered | The material palette of the The Components of the Craft proposal for Schöneberg paired with the sun study that influenced its early massing decisions.

Potsdamer Strasse [Site 2] Sun Study

pictured | A view from Potzdamer Platz S-Bahn station, overlooking the modern day vertical-urban expanse. The line of the Berlin Wall once ran its course to the left of the camera's frame along with the 'dead mans zone' between the east and west. Upon the fall of the wall in 1989, a construction boom in the urban centre took place.

Prologue

To this day, the destruction of Berlin's old cityscape still sits in the shadows of the two dictatorships of the East and West. In spite of this, the curtain that was drawn over the old city in the form of late 20th and current 21st Century redevelopment is of high opacity, and still allows murmurs of Berlin's eldest and most authentic street-scenes to shine through. Revealed in the occasional mismatch between terraces, or the change in street-level, the subtle contrast of the old and new reveal the cities so many fresh starts. Whether one chooses to mention the Second World War when writing about the architecture of Berlin - the dark episodes of the past seem difficult to avoid as they've so distinctively shaped it.

In October 2023, I was lucky enough to visit Berlin with colleagues and tutors from the University of Edinburgh. We visited Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie and Hans Scharoun's Berlin Philaharmonie in the city's bustling centre. On my way there, I took the S-Bahn from Orianienburger in Mitte to Potsdamer Platz via the Bahnhof Berlin-Friedrichstraße. When I walked out of the station, the speed of the cities vernacular progression over the past 20 years all of a sudden begun to sink in. Although I have never visited before (nor have I had any first hand experience encountering Berlin) Franz Hessle's accounts in Walking in Berlin: A Flaneur in the Capital (first published in 1929) and travel2000's* account published in Memory in the New Berlin edited by Karen E. Till, only served to further exaggerated the progression being revealed to my eyes.

When writing this thesis, I was struck by sheer impact of the 'fall of the wall', represented by its dominance in publications on the library shelves. Without meaning to undermine the significance of the truly important and anticipated event, the searching for other subjects led me to reflect on my time in Berlin, and what it was that attracts me - us young folk - to a city like Berlin. Perhaps, as best described by author Peter Scheider, what attracts [young people] to Berlin seems to be precisely what they feel is missing in more beautiful cities: the weirdness, perpetual incompleteness, and outlandishness3. I was convinced. Similarly, writer Karl Scheffler, author is his 1910 polemic Berlin, ein Stadschicksal (Berlin: Fate of a City) wrote, "Berlin is condemned forever to be coming and never to being". If Berlin truely lacks everything that makes a big city, then it must be a place of fleeting transit and movement: an evolving enigma with more of a past and future than a present. Is is a city that's running away?

Berlin, as an city in rewriting , is an active urban machine. Within this conceptual framework, Peter Scheider observes, it is this that has resulted in architecture that is desperately political and anti-fascist. Consequently, the argument could be made that they lack curiosity, playfulness and a sense of adventure. In a response to these themes of transgressive movement and the desires of the young discussed in Peter Schenider's Berlin Now: The City after the Wall (2014), our thesis seeks to responds to this idea of transgression, evolving with the city like a rolling locomotive.

I can't help but ask myself, what is this feeling that attracts me to Berlin? What makes us newcomers have a feeling that there is room still left for us? Internalizing these reflective social questions, our schemes seek to prioritize the needs of an inclusive city of today: one that is sharing, participatory and one that invites.

Carl Harris, 2024

[1] Tiergarten S-Bahn

[2] Siegessäule Monument

[3] Zoologischer Garten Berlin

[4] Nollendorfplatz U-Bahn (elevated railway)

[5] Bülowstraße U-Bahn (elevated railway)

[6] Park am Gleisdreieck

[7] Beach-Volleyballanlage (Beach Volleyball Facility)

[8] Tiergarten/ Schöneberg/ Kreuzberg boundary

above | The Park In Motion [Lending Libraries for Tiergarten].

below | Components of the Craft [Centres for Enabling Public Fesivity].

The Park in Motion [Lending Libraries for Tiergarten]

Components of the Craft [Centre for Enabling Public Festivity]

[Pavilions for the lending of sports equipment across Tiergarten with the aim of encouraging exercise and solidarity for the betterment of wellbeing, and to prevent sport from being inaccessible due to economics]

[Urban platforms for enabling public festivity in the Schöneberg neighborhood – recognizing and negotiating a convergence between music, craft and sport for developing creatives who live in the inner peripheral blocks of Berlin]

Semester 1

Semester 2

pictured | The Park In Motion [Lending Libraries for Tiergarten].

Contents

Prologue

Glossary of Terms

Part I | Lending Libraries for Berlin

i. The Park in Motion [Lending Libraries for Tiergarten]

ii. Components of the Craft [Centres for Enabling Public Festivity]

Part II | Thematic Explorations

1. Opportunities for Intervention

i. Tiergarten

ii. Schöneberg

2. Non-Human Protagonists

3. Porosity of Movement

4. Human Protagonists

5. Material Languages

i. The Park in Motion [Lending Libraries for Tiergarten]

ii. Components of the Craft [A Centre for Enabling Public Festivity]

Part III | Reflections

1. Drawing

2. Making

3. Coding

4. Curating

Part IV | Mode of Architectural Practice

1. Studio Culture

2. Symposiums and Reviews

Bibliography and Image References

Bibliography and Supporting Texts

Glossary of Terms

Berlin Block

Berlin Zimmer

Also referred to by Berliners as 'the rental barracks', it is an inner perimeter block typical of Berlin. They were conspired as part of an urban planning movement created by James Hobrecht, author of the 1862 Berlin Extension plan, also known as the 'Hobrecht plan'.

A large and deep room within the terrace in an inner perimeter block. The rooms only have one window facing onto an internal courtyard, this is as result of the room occurring on a corner.

block

co-existence

[1]

[2]

[3]

flats or offices with a large building containing them

an area of land within streets on all sides a piece of a larger mass

symbiosis between human and nonhuman species.

field station flâneur

GrÜnderzeit

an architectural proposition that synthesizes the critical input form our urban sensing device

one who aimlessly but enjoyably, strolls about a city.

(German), for 'founding time', a mechanism for combining residential/ commercial, public/ private within singular terraces, typically park of an inner perimeter block. Typically, they are five or six stories high with a basement below; commercial or gastronomic spaces on the were on the ground floor; the owner and administrator on the

Öhe

urban sensing device

second floor;civil servants and whitecollar workers above them and retirees and workers in the rear building.

GPX, or GPS exchange format, is an XML file format for storing coordinates. It can store way-points, tracks and routes.

green space within an urban area and a lens though which ecology is scaled

a system, activity or role that involves a particular person or group of people taking part in it

the quality of being porous; a city with many holes, allowing people to pass through it

(German) Eaves height

Zeilenbau

a portable fieldwork instrument that uses Arduino-based prototyping and visual coding tools to capture environmental qualitative and quantitative data

(German) for 'line construction', a Bauhaus movement of building in lines, often along the North-South axis.

Index of Architectures

The Park in Motion [Lending Libraries for Tiergarten] Components of the Craft [A Centre for Enabling Public Festivity]

Lending Library for Audio Engineers

Lending Library for Indoor Sports

Sports and Choreography

pictured | 1:200 paper model fragments to test forms and massing

[Part I]

THE GARDEN IN MOTION

[LENDING LIBRARIES FOR TIERGARTEN]

The Park in Motion [Lending Libraries for Tiergarten] builds upon the well respected tradition of sports within Berlin, voiced in the 2024 UEFA Euro Games. Taking place across ten stadiums, Olympiakark Berlin will participate bringing a wave of tourists and sporting fans to the city. The stadium is located West of Tiergarten, where the 1936 Olympics were once hosted and anticipates it will welcome 2.5 million visitors up to July 14th, 2024. With the stadium providing so much offering for the spectators of football, significantly less access to sport is provided to those who live around the stadium. With the aiming of The Park in Motion to provide a new sporting complex for the aficionados rather than athletes, the proposal will specifically focuses on making sports more accessible to the average Berlin resident.

The scheme is made up of 12 pavilions, 2 courts and 4 pitches across the northwestern tip of Tiergarten, capitalizing on the free loan of sporting equipment as an argument to create new, lightweight and temporary builds in Tiergarten for the average resident. Each pavilion seeks to respond to a specific sporting discipline or outdoor leisurely activity (such as cycling). The equipment can be could be used on-site, or taken away elsewhere in the city providing they are returned by a certain date. In an act of exchange, the user must be happy with the back to be tracked with an arduino-powered GPX tracker, The aim is to use this to create further field stations, and to collect more location data for the use in the growing scheme.

pictured | An isometric view of the pavillions that outfit Tiergarten. They are joined by matrix of raised jettys that take the most direct route to one another amongst the trees of Tiergarten and promote a separation between the human and non-human for a more visually organized display of co-existence.

[1] Volleyball apparel collection.

[2] Volleyball ball collection. The standard ball sanctioned by the Intenational Volleyball Federation (FIVB) is 65-76cm circumference, 260-280 grams

[3] Volleyball coach's office

[4] Volleyball testing court (not full sized) - intentionally scaled down to fit within the limited development zone and to encourage the equipment to be taken off site for study purposes.

left | Volleyball lending library plan and elevations - originally drawn at 1:100 @ A2 (LL9, see page 60).

right | Rendered view showing the volleyball lending library nestled amongst the retained trees in Tiergarten.

[1] [3]

[1] Vertical bicycle storage

Frame sizes vary from 33-61cm, suitable for riders from 148-198cm tall

[2] Bicycle maintenance room; secure tools and parts storage

[3] Vertical bicycle storage for e-bikes

Frame sizes vary from 33-61cm, suitable for riders from 148-198cm tall

left | Bicycle lending library plan and elevations, originally drawn at 1:100 @ A2 (LL3, see page 60).

right | Rendered view at eye level, facing away from the bicycle lending library.

right | A site map highlighting the positioning of the lendling libraries, pitches and courts with their relative distance indicated; originally drawn at 1:500 @ A1

left | Satellite imposition

[1] Squash court adhering to the national standard at 9.75m by 6.6m in width. The dimensions are recognized by the World Squash Federation (WSF)

[2] 3 tiered seating for spectators

[3] Row of seating for other tournament players not in the match

[4] Disabled ramp, 1:12 gradient

[5] The structure is made from timber, weather boarded and clad in anodized aluminium sheets. The superstructure is sandwiched between two layers of transparent glass allowing a view in on three sides, and a hard surface for the squash ball to rebound from. The rear wall is made from fully opaque glass, with a white film PVC applied on the interior to meet WSF standards. [1] [3] [4]

[2]

[5]

[1] A1, Information Gate, CH; Facility front desk, caretaker desk and event space.

[2] A2 Courts Gate, OM; Entrance to track facilities; water station and personal training labs.

[3] LL1, Badminton Lending Library, OM; Racket and shuttlecock collection, apparel collection.

[4] LL2, Basketball Lending Library, OM; Ball and shoe collection, apparel collection.

[5] LL10 Wearable Technology Lending Library, CH; Labatory for arduino equipped athletic equipment for tracking health analytics and fitting rooms.

[6] O1 Bridge House, FA; Lending library for athletic apparal, connecting architecture to one end of the bridge that oversails the Nuer See lake.

[7] LL4 Football Lending Library, OM; Football ball, football boot and apparel collection.

[8] LL7 Rugby Lending Library, FA; Rugby ball, rugby boot and apparel collection.

[9] LL5 Hockey Lending Library, FA; Hockey stick, hockey ball and apparel.

This drawing is intended to be read as site map rather then a block plan; positioning of the proposals above and below the Neur See Lake and tree canopies are indicative. However, the the true distances between the proposals are annotated in kilometers.

The original drawing is scaled to 1:500 @ A1.

[10] C4 Tennis Court, OM; astro-turf court, informal spectators' seating and home and away backbench.

[11] C3, Tennis Court, CH; Resin finished timber floored court, staged spectator's seating and backbench.

[12] C1 Basketball Court, CH Resin-bound gravel half court, canvas rain cover and possesions locker.

[13] LL9 Volleyball Lending Library, CH Volleyballs, shoe and apparel collection

[14] LL8, Squash Lending Library, FA Squash ball, racket, shoe and apparel collection

[15] O2 Bridge House, FA, Lending library for athletic apparal, connecting architecture to one end of the bridge that oversails the Nuer See lake.

[16] AM2 WC/ Showers/ Changing Facilities, OM

[17] P3 Lacrosse Pitch, OM

Astroturf with crumb rubber, side bench seating

[18] P4 Rugby Pitch, OM Grass pitch, side bench seating

[19] P2 Hocket Pitch, CH Astroturf pitch with crumb rubber; side bench seating

[20] 8-lane athletic track, crumb rubber surface

Notation:

C - Court

A- Information

O - Bridge House

P - Pitch

LL - Lending Library

Thin Line: Connection to a field station by a raised jetty

Designer:

CH - Carl Harris

FA - Folahan Adelakun

OM - Oliver Maxwell

Thick Line: Connection to a field station by an existing path in Tiergarten- all retained Bridge over Nuer See Lake

[Part I]

COMPONENTS OF THE CRAFT [A CENTRE FOR ENABLING PUBLIC FESTIVITY]

Building on the concept established in Tiergarten, Components of the Craft seeks to continue the theme of exchange, enlarging its scope and capturing a music narrative. Sport and music are synonymous activities an share many similarities. The greatest of those, perhaps, is the level of dedication and commitment required to strive for success.

The context of the site is Schöneberg, a borough South of Tiergarten, known to be the heart of gay life in Berlin. Since the 1920s during the Weimar Republic4, the borough was an important meeting place for the lesbian community and an area where gay people were able to express their personality. On the north-western corner of Potsdamer Strasse was an acclaimed entertainment venue called Dorian Gray which was inspired by the famous novel by Oscar Wilde. Although the venue has now been replaced with a hotel that is caught in the curtilage of the site, the theme of subculture, music and performance is still evident in the community, and underlies the foundations of the Schöneberg resident.

Ruth Margarete Roellig in her city guide Berlins lesbische Frauen (Berlin's Lesbian Women) published in 1928, highlights the importance of the area that provided lesbian women a community where they could enjoy their own identity with a sense of belonging and invitation. Inspired by the stories of Roellig and the history of Dorian Gray and other popular venues that are widely written about, the proposal seeks to better utilize the inner city blocks for use by the residents. With the equipment and facilities provided, the community would be able to host a yearly carnival to celebrate the richness sports and music brings to life, in an area that likes to celebrate it the most.

left | Section - originally drawn at 1:200 right | Plan - originally drawn at 1:200

[6] [1] [1a] [2] [5] [3] [4]

Ground:

[1] Aerial rings for loan: the rings are provided in sets and are designed to be suspended from straps for aerial gymnastics;

[2] Floor exercise mats for loan: A padded mat used for the floor exercises;

[3] Basketballs, tennis balls, footballs, soft balls and rugby tags for other team sports that the hall can also accommodate;

[4] Rackets for badminton, squash and tennis for loan;

[5] Floor-to-ceiling cabinets provide additional space for storing equipment;

[6] Parallel Bars for loan: A set of two horizontal bars set parallel to each other, used in gymnastics;

First:

[1a] Gym suitably sized for 1to1 personal training sessions, accessible via an external stair.

The Contenders' Gym and Hall [4] [5] [3] [2/3a]

[1] Access corridor;

[2] WC/Changing;

[3] WC/ Changing;

[4] A multifunctional sports hall with a footprint equivalent to junior basketball court (22.6 x 12.8m) a 2 metre perimeter. The hall is suitable is suitable for a variety of sports, although has particular focus on gymnastics;

[5] Storage for large gymnastic equipment such as small spring loaded trampolines with safety mats, pommel horses tumbling mats and vaulting tables;

First:

[1a] A spectators viewing platform with 4 tiered seating;

[2/3a] A gym overlooking the Sports Hall.

The first floor is assessible by an external stair.

drawn | Internal floor plans in the style of Pierre Chareau, focusing on the interior extents - originally drawn at 1:100

Ground:

[1] Recording studio for vocals, a bookable space;

[2] Passive audio speaker cabinets for loan;

[3] Passive audio speaker cabinets for loan; spaces 2&3 can be partially combined by opening the bifold doors

The Collaborator's Wood Workshop

[4] Amplifier, attenuator, equaliser, limiter, mixing control, turntable and CDJ storage loan; partial office for an an electrical engineer to oversee loans and carry out essential maintainance and repairs.

[5] Cabinets for storing wiring

First:

[1b] Production studio for beat-making assessible by an external stair.

Ground

[1] WC;

[2] Wood working space for stage designers and carpenters. Wood working is a necessary component for the delivery of apparatus for gymnasts and stages for artists;

[3] Sheet material storage for 4x8 for FSC Germany approved manufacturerd board;

[4] Foyer for public enquiries and access door for sheet material deliveries;

[5] Technicians' office;

[6] Secure storage

First

[2b] Further wood working space

Alvenslebenstraße

right | Western elevation and figurative outline of the schemes footprint - originally drawn at 1:100.

left | Sectional wormseye.

left | A frame made of bolt-on-and-bolt-off steel and timber, built upon the sidewalk of Potsdamer Strasse, The architecture creates a fixture against the terraces residential properties of Potsdamer Strasse to attach their carnival interventions to. right | The frame sits in close proximity to the residents windows, offering the potential for the architectures to be an extension to their apartment when it is not being used for yearly festivities.

drawn | A south-western isometric view.

drawn | A wormseye view.

[Part II]

OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERVENTION

Tiergarten, Berlin's eldest park, is the place of many. It is a constant in an ever changing and diverse landscape. Tiergarten is home to a diverse species of trees including the ash, beech, birch, pine, poplar, and oak - nestled amongst bushes, flowers and scurrying squirrels in a beautiful cacophony of diverse plant societies and animal ecologies. Tiergarten is also receiver of the everyday person; the commuter, outdoor runner, footballer, camper, tourist, political activist, bird watcher, artist and gardener. It's a wonderful demonstration of co-existence. A pocket of land where humans, animals and plants live alongside each other all at once.

Tiergarten's is history is one that is paradoxical. Despite its antiquity as a 350 year old park - the park in its current appearance is only 74 years old. On both sides of World War II, Tiergarten has sustained leverage, destruction, re-plantation and redesign as a city resource that is in constant ebb and flow to manage city expectations. It's near 200,000 trees were cut for timber between 1946 and 1947. In the 1950's, a re-plantation scheme brought about a new Tiergarten. When visiting in 2024, however, one would be fooled by its transformative past. The scale of biomass in its pure density and expanse stand in stark contrast to the history we read. So close to the city centre, Tiergarten is unlike any other green space in Berlin. The park establishes its own level of autonomy and makes it a very fulfilling place to be.

Tiergarten's importance as an outdoor green space also steps far beyond the experiential. Since its origins as an alluvial forest, it has became a political tool to represent power and authority. It began when the Royals used the forest as a hunting grounds. When it was opened to the public some 60 years later in 1765, the land was entirely re-branded: replanted as a piece of art with Baroque impressions of avenues, allees, statues and ornamental planting - designed by then landscape architect Wenzeslau von Knobelsdorf. The careful horticultural selection and regular planting rhythm brought about a newwave of organization and self-confidence that reflected the forward thinking politics of the time. Today, Tiergarten continues to hold the fort as Berlin's political front garden (being located afront of the Reichstag). Consequently, in the city's culture of remembrance, Tiergarten has become a respected place among the Berliners, as a piece of history that can be appreciated fair beyond its visitation.

With Tiergarten's many identities and rich narratives, Tiergarten poises itself as the ideal site for a lightweight intervention that can further enrich the experiences of its human and non-human residents.

left | With the land partitioned and cleared of its trees, Berliners cultivate fruit and vegetables, providing for themselves in a time of political uncertainty and food scarcity.

top | 1698 plan of Tiergarten. The central square (although is more akin to a circle), the 'Großer Stern' is first shown. It was created as a hunting star by the court hunter Hemmrich. and was later iterated to become the victory column The fence surrounding the plot can be seen.

middle | 1765 plan of Tiergarten with Mulberry Plantings on bellvue. The gardens Baroque features emerge in this plan. As part of Frederick II access to the throne in 1740, Knobelsdorff made other significant additions to the "pleasure ground" such as the Floraplatz and the Venusbassin (Venus Basin, a type of fountain or water feature found in Baroque Gardens and landscapes).

bottom | 1840: In the 19th Century a radical rethinking of the forest was made to make clearings for a system of water streams to allow for better flood drainage. Peter Joseph Lenne worked with the 1765 plan devised by Knobelsdorf and continued to make Baroque additions.

Tiergarten, a place of change

Throughout the passage of time since the 1700's, Tiergarten has been the subject of significant change acting as this constant benefactor, almost adopting a persona of its own as it continues to respond to the needs of the city, society and its people. It begun its humble days as a marsh forest that grew on the floodplain of the River Spree, a highground amongst the ancient glacial valley flowing from Warsaw to Berlin. At around the same time Berlin became fortified city, the land was fenced off and claimed by the city to be used as a hunting ground for the Royals. Being strategically located West of the Star Fort and in close proximity to the walls, it served as the ideal outdoor retreat for the wealthy and became the cities first representation of wealth and status in the form of land ownership (the 1698 grounds shows the dense forest surrounded by a fence). The dichotomy between the intense urban landscape with its austere boundary (somewhat foreshadowing) and the tranquil extremities, arguably form the first characterization of a city-landscape within Berlin.

Observing the history of Tiergarten, we stepped in the shoes of Knobelsdorf, Lenne and Alverdes as we begun to think about new ways the garden could be appropriated.

right | The first master-map iteration for Tiergarten, speculating a series of circular pavilions and sports pitches.