2021: Messedamm underpass in Berlin is difficult to find but the search is worthwhile. In the past decade or so, the location has featured in no less than six Hollywood movies. Most recently it has been used to house 500 refugees before being reopened to the public. <back to Portfolio>
2015: Built between 1930 and 1932, Shell Haus in Berlin is a masterpiece of modernist architecture. The building flows beautifully in 6 gentles waves and each wave represents an increase in one storey. It was one of the first steel framed buildings in Berlin and the unique facade was clad with a pale Italian limestone called Travertine. It became a listed building in 1958, and was refurbished in the 1990s with the same Italian limestone. <back to Portfolio>
2015: The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin contains 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. Each column represents approximately 1,100 Jewish deaths in World War 2. Walking amongst the uneven slabs, one feels claustrophobic and disorientated. Strategically positioned between the seat of power in the Reichstag and Hitler’s bunker, it’s a moving memorial to the millions who suffered unspeakable atrocities. <back to Portfolio>
2016: On the East bank of the River Spree in Berlin, not far from the Reichstag, is an area known as Federal Row. Sections of the Berlin Wall have been rebuilt here to commemorate the division of the city along the former route the Wall took alongside the river. The area contains Paul Löbe House (Bundestag’s Parliamentary committees), Marie Elisabeth Lüders House (Scientific Services) and Federal Chancellory and represents a contemporary symbol of German unification. <back to Portfolio>2016: In 1980 Irene Moessinger was left an inheritance of 800k Deutschemarks and established Tempodrom right next to the Berlin Wall in Potsdamer Platz. It was intended to be a venue for music and performance and over the years has grown in popularity by outgrowing the initial structure which was actually a tent. Today, Tempodrom consists of 2 multi-purpose arenas in Kreuzberg, Berlin. They are constructed from steel and have concrete panel roof are a nod to initial, temporary tents of the original Potsdamer Platz site. <back to Portfolio>2016: Arbeit macht frei is German for “Work sets you free” and is a notorious Nazi slogan that appeared at many concentration camp entrances in World War 2. Many of these original signs still exist, including this one at Sachsenhausen, just north of Berlin. Other signs, like the one at Auschwitz are replicas; the original sign was stolen in 2009. Fortunately it was later recovered and is now safely housed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. <back to Portfolio>
