See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in September See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in July Close to the Tiergarten park in central Berlin is a neighbourhood that feels frozen in time The result of a race to define the future of cities Hansaviertel is a unique piece of modernist architecture with a fascinating history a place where hedonistic nightlife can follow a day of hiking alongside peaceful city lakes This diversity is also evident in its architecture which encompasses everything from wedding cake-style Stalinist structures to Brutalist buildings and 19th-century masterpieces It means that the German capital’s long history is visible not just in its many museums but in the buildings and streets themselves you’ll stumble across one of these hopeful monuments to the future On the edge of Tiergarten, the large, leafy park in the centre of town, lies one of them. In 1953, a design competition was announced to create a new neighbourhood in Hansaviertel The old Hanseatic Quarter had been nearly completely destroyed by allied phosphor bombs towards the end of World War II a decade earlier and was to be rebuilt to alleviate the city’s housing shortage The competition was also a response to East Berlin’s imposing new Stalinallee (now Karl-Marx-Allee) with the Hansaviertel’s “Neues Bauen” (New Buildings) conceived as a democratic inviting neighbourhood; a very different approach to the urban planning of the monumental Some of the most well-known architects of modern times were invited to create designs for Hansaviertel Together the architects – many of whom were part of the Bauhaus movement – created a beautifully varied neighbourhood that was showcased to the public in the “Interbau 1957” exhibition Its houses epitomise the practical but generous design vision of what modern living could look like in the mid-to-late 1950s When the Interbau exhibition opened in July 1957 only a third of the buildings were finished but visitors got the chance to see the brand new neighbourhood from both above and below with the help of a viewing crane a chairlift and even an exhibition in an U-bahn tunnel – the Hansaplatz metro station that was erected at the same time as the exhibition The show interiors of the houses were as forward-looking as the clean featuring Italian fabrics as well as Bauhaus- and Scandinavian-style furniture the Interbau buildings wouldn’t turn out to be the future of housing design in Berlin would prove too expensive for mass-construction though: Karl-Marx-Allee was renovated and modernised after the reunification of Berlin and its architecture has been listed since 1990 Walking through Hansaviertel today still stirs the imagination although the greenery that made the neighbourhood so welcoming in the 1950s has become overgrown in some places obscuring the structures behind it like Klaus Müller-Rehm’s and Gerhard Siegmann’s ‘Giraffe’ an all-concrete high-rise building that sticks its head out of the trees Another fascinating building is celebrated Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer’s addition to the competition On Altonaer Strasse 4-14 you’ll find his apartment house The massive concrete building actually rests on stilts that give its rectangular hulk a graceful feel Interbau 57 didn’t just commission designs for housing but also a number of special buildings Willy Kreuer’s St Ansgar Church replaced an old one with the same name destroyed during the war and is a beautifully modern place of worship it looks as striking today as in the late 1950s and the area’s spacious layout of buildings interspersed with nature is once again many people’s vision of the ideal urban environment a walk around Hansaviertel is relaxing and inspiring at the same time a way to experience the city that hasn’t changed much for the past 70 years And it could be preserved forever: Hansaviertel and Karl-Marx-Allee will be jointly submitted for consideration for World Heritage Site status in 2022 a development that would have been completely unbelievable in the divided time and city in which they were built Sign up to our newsletter to save up to $800 on our unique trips See privacy policy All recommendations have been independently sourced by Culture Trip Read Next See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in September See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in July See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in October See & Do The Best Weekend Trips From Heidelberg See & Do Germany's Most Beautiful Abbeys and Monasteries Art 10 Masterpieces You Can Only See in Munich Guides & Tips The Best European Cities to Visit in November Guides & Tips The Best European Cities to Visit in December Design The Most Beautiful Churches in Berlin See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in Summer See & Do A Guide to River Cruises in Germany: What to Know See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in Autumn US: +1 (678) 967 4965 | UK: +44 (0)1630 35000 tripssupport@theculturetrip.com © Copyright 2025 The Culture Trip Ltd one of Germany's most talented young architects designed the housing block with funds raised by Marlene Dietrich Then a bright spark on the Berlin senate suggested giving the city's most famous daughter a call tickled by the idea of an avant-garde enclave slap bang in the middle of her home town In just two days she had hustled a seven-figure sum out of her admirers on Wall Street and the project was a goer Peter Schlesselmann.Originally the flats were owned by the state and rented very cheaply to young families they were almost exclusively owner-occupied – a relative rarity in Germany where renting is far more common than buying Schlesselmann does not want to reveal the price he paid but a slightly larger flat in the Le Corbusier towerblock nearby is on the market for €160,000 (£136k) a Berlin-based architect with a reputation for designing modern Although he couldn't alter the listed exterior he was free to do as he liked with the interior a series of low-ceilinged rooms with a great set of windows facing north "Peter gave me free rein," Pöppler says he didn't turn up once to see how it was going we mostly used basic materials.'Schlesselmann had already agreed to Pöppler's bold plans which included painting the main rooms in strident colours: a red kitchen green study and turquoise-and-yellow bedroom echoing the colours of the Pierre Vago towerblock opposite Pöppler was determined not to design a pastiche of 1950s/60s style "We didn't want just to put in a load of Arne Jacobsen furniture," he says He wasn't daunted by the idea of tinkering around with a Gropius original And you shouldn't give the past too much merit." The Hansaviertel architects and had been given such limited budgets that anything fancy was out of the question The apartment has been updated with modern designer pieces.The only structural change to the flat was knocking out an interior wall which opened up the kitchen into the living room to let in more light Pöppler describes the project as "absolutely low budget The tiles in the bathroom came from a builder's merchant." The whole lot came in at "under €40,000 (£34k)" he says – but that figure does not include some pretty classy furniture which has such delicate china leaves that Schlesselman was terrified of breaking it "I am never moving house with that again," he says Pöppler himself made the tall porcelain cupboard in the living room (pictured Berlin is not blessed with many green spaces so to live in its largest park is a treat indeed By is a small exhibition featuring three artists: Miron Zownir and the children of the night in the 1970s New York; the Lithuanian Rimaldas Vikšraitis  his works are chthonic Grimaces of the Weary Village from the 1990s; and the Ukrainian Aleksander Chekmenev with an equally chthonic take on the Donbas region from the same period Boris Mikhailov’s poetics of the 90s can be perceived 1950–1960 © Ludwig Schirmer/OSTKREUZ (Courtesy: Akademie der Künste Ein Dorf 1950–2022 / A Village 1950-2022 — Ute Mahler Ludwig Schirmer documented his native Thuringian village in the 1950s before becoming one of the key advertising photographers in the GDR His daughter and son-in-law also photographed the same village and Only much later were Schirmer’s early images rediscovered A saga with recognizable characters across time The same venue shows an exhibition celebrating photography as a documentation medium with an obligatory Walter Benjamin quote in the curatorial text This part of the show features some well-established artists a well-known German documentary photographer and film director who represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 2015 (together with Olaf Nicolai Hito Steyerl und Jasmina Metwaly/Philip Rizk currently Ukraine) lives in Berlin and is one of the most influential and decorated East-European photographers to date Citibank Photography Prize (2001; since 2005 it is called Deutsche Börse Photography Prize) He represented Ukraine at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and 2017 I quite liked Bérangère Fromont with a brooding installation and Pınar Öğrenci with collages  as if all of the museum’s lighting was used in The Village part of the show The gallery owner has worked with her for 10 years and published catalogs A sort of decorative conceptualism through photography The left panel features pictures of ink smears on a tray full of water The right panel shows the dried pigments at the bottom of the same tray It’s like a downplayed Paul Graham of sorts; time is an important collaborator for the author I liked one of her earlier projects: rows of uniform monochrome sunset colors sourced from amateur photos taken by her mother there’s a group exhibition of gallery artists A large piece by Jaeger is mounted under the expensive museum-grade glass Abstraction has long since become the preferred art for dentists/lawyers/notary lobbies Jaeger’s works are on another level: decorative but fine (Courtesy: Kuckei + Kuckei; Photo: Vladimir Dudchenko) The gallery has reclaimed its ‘first’ space on Linienstrasse The current exhibition features Barbara Probst (b Quadriptychs about viewing the ‘here and now’ from multiple perspectives; inventive and some are already in their final numbers Places in Between – Perspectives of a Reality We attended their event last year and liked it Such a grassroots initiative with no money originated by the female photographers there were ads in the subway and possibly elsewhere the queue was already on the stairs down to the ground floor so the organizers couldn’t let more people in the queue stretched across the whole ground floor 1300 people visited the opening on that day Natalia Carstens showed empty cinemas last year; now they are glass and concrete office buildings A deeply atmospheric stand by Marlene Gawrisch about Auschwitz-Birkenau Michael Shorris is a writer in New York working in documentary film. Home WATCHPRO Fine Watches Berlin is a labour of love for father and daughter co-founders Wilfried and Mia-Phyliss Liefer who launched the business back in 2017 FineWatchesBerlin is a labour of love for father and daughter co-founders Wilfried and Mia-Phyllyis Liefer who launched the business back in 2017 and now sells direct to consumers online and through six retail partners in its native Germany The company is looking to impress British watch lovers with an appearance at next week’s WATCHPRO Market at a converted retail space under the lights of Piccadilly Circus on London’s Regent’s Street CLICK TO REGISTER FOR FREE TICKETS FineWatchesBerlin will present two collections: HansaViertel and Teufelsberg which share a pared back Bauhaus aesthetic but are differentiated by details such as roman numerals and a small seconds sub dial for the Teufelsbergs and a date at 6 o’clock on the more colourful HansaViertel range and decorated with both traditional Swiss polishing and a message from the founders: “From Berlin with Love” WATCHPRO Christmas Market takes place in a retail store space right under the Piccadilly Circus Christmas lights on Regent Street; one of the highest footfall destinations in London from December 2-4 Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * 140 Old Street, London, EC1V 9BJ, United Kingdom with its nine business residential units of a maximum of 60 sqm spread over three floors there is a communal rooftop terrace with urban gardening areas and a view of the park of the quarter A riverside promenade connects the Oasis quarter with the river Spree Access is via the landscaped sun deck with various seating and lounging options has space for in total of 104 cars and also offers charging stations for electric cars and bicycles You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Image by Naomi Games, courtesy of Science Museum Photo of Franz Schuster building through trees by Liam Photo by Karen Davies Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen FiiO'S sub-brand Snowsky has launched the Retro Nano user-friendly vinyl flattening machine that restores warped records to their original shape using precision heat technology Zaha Hadid Architects transforms public transit at the KAFD Metro Station in Riyadh with futuristic architecture Full of natural materials and respect for modern Swedish design the STOCKHOLM 2025 collection from IKEA debuts 96 new pieces You’ll always hear it from Design Milk first Our passion is discovering and highlighting emerging talent and we’re energized by and for our community of like-minded design lovers — like you there’s amazing art to behold at more than 50 participating galleries But one verdant park in the city’s Hansaviertel district holds a different kind of artistic gem—a grand architectural masterpiece whose appeal has endured for more than five decades It’s an extraordinary community of modernist apartment buildings all designed soon after World War II thanks to the collaboration of more than 50 of the world’s greatest architects These starchitects of their time—including Alvar Aalto and Oscar Niemeyer—came together to conjure the very best example of postwar urban communal living after World War II strikingly contemporary housing project continues to provide inspiration and ideas to today’s designers Perhaps the most surprising of all is that some of the original residents still live in the community which first opened its doors in the late 1950s but it’s been the most beautiful place to spend my life.” This is a view of the park from a balcony of the Le Corbusier–designed Unité d’Habitation of Berlin founder of the Bauhaus and a pioneer of modern architecture and became the esteemed dean of Harvard’s School of Architecture He returned to his homeland to participate in the rethinking of Berlin he created a curved apartment building with a striking layered façade that still looks fresh and inviting today whose whimsical design features a cheery red façade on one side it was lifted off the ground to maintain views of the surrounding park The angular structure on the left is the fire escape This pristinely modern house was designed by Arne Jacobsen and features interior and exterior courtyards in which to savor the park setting all year long if you wanted to know.ImagoBerlin-The ink on the contract is already dry but the mega-deal may not actually happen controlled by quirky Norwegian billionaire Ivar Tollefsen wants to buy 130 Berlin properties that include 3,902 apartments 208 commercial units and 321 parking spaces for around €830 million wouldn't say exactly what properties it hoped to acquire but admitted slightly more than half are in rental protection areas known as Milieuschutzgebiete Berlin's districts have a legal right of first refusal on any properties in Milieuschutzgebiete though buyers can circumvent the right by commiting to special tenant protections and guaranteeing rentals won't be converted into condominiums Although districts now have two months to exercise their purchase option state-run property agencies often don't have the cash at current prices to buy alleviating private buyers from agreeing to burdensome tenant protection which has about 100,000 apartments in six countries expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2020 or in the first quarter of 2021 The company is majority owned by Fredensborg AS a Norwegian investment company chaired by founder Ivar Tollefsen Tollefsen launched a DJ company as a teenager that he eventually traded for a career in real estate investing that has made him a billionaire gone on Antarctic expeditions and has rarely found a mountain he wouldn't climb Should Pacelliallee be the next Berlin street name to go Heimstaden refused to get specific about how many of the apartments it wants to buy will enjoy lower rent under the city's new rent cap law but that it  expressly respects all regulations and rights for the protection of tenants" and has "thoroughly examined and taken into account the general conditions in Berlin before the purchase." Heimstaden said its investment outlook is long-term and doesn't buy properties to then sell flats to individual owners: "In some cases they are located in areas where we do not have enough homes to provide our customers with an appropriate service that meets our standards," a spokesperson said Neukölln is already considering using its right of first refusal "We are actively talking with the affected tenants as well as with the other districts," said councillor Jochen Biedermann (Greens) "Our goal is and remains to prevent forcing anyone out It remains to be seen whether Heimstaden will follow up its promise of a tenant-friendly and sustainable strategy with action."   The Berlin tenant association (BMV) says the sale shows that a rental cap doesn't make Germany's capital uninteresting to international investors – a common complaint about the Mietendeckel some investors are able to look beyond the law's five-year tenure "The investors probably don't realise that they're just reinforcing the discussion about extending the cap because of precisely such acquisitions." This article was adapted from the original German for the English Edition by Andrew Bulkeley This dream was finally brought to life in 2019 when the first model not only was Wilfied Liefer’s daughter It wasn’t until 30 years later though that the idea became a reality when FineWatchesBerlin came to fruition After some self-chosen private and professional reorientations I found the time and leisure to realize this old dream together with my daughter.” Wilfried Liefers recalls Since then there has been a clear division of labor at the family start-up Wilfried Liefer is responsible for designs that are based on the ideas of the Bauhaus school while Mia-Phyllis Liefer takes care of marketing – while of course being the top assessor of her father’s designs they emphasize that they are far from mimicking existing design concepts and simply adding their logo: “What I don’t like at all are these almost Rolex Divers the quality of the materials used must be right and valuable to feel the harmony of weight and processing quality in the hand A good watch should inspire me to take the time to look at it again and again,” explains Mia-Phyllis Liefer The duo want to address people with a strong sense of good design while another aspect with regard to the brand image is the German capital Mr Liefer explains: “The connection to Berlin is important for us My daughter and I feel very connected to the city I have lived here for almost 35 years and Mia-Phyllis was born here A completely new perspective in my life opened up for me in Berlin and we try to implement this “everything is possible” in our watches And one mustn’t forget that Berlin is one of the most popular and well-known cities in the world so it’s not uninteresting in terms of marketing.” a sense of value; a new iPhone can inspire him just as much as his 30-year-old SR 500 or his handmade shoes He gives in to the impulse to simply step out of the daily hustle and bustle Someone who sits down with a good cup of coffee takes his FineWatchesBerlin off his wrist and calmly devotes himself to the many small details of the watch and enjoys it.” The inclined watch lover now has the choice between three product lines: “Teufelsberg” “HansaViertel” and “Valentina” What they have in common is the inner workings of Miyota in the form of the modified automatic movement 8218 or 8315 in the screwed 40.5 millimeter stainless steel case with a 42-hour or 60-hour power reserve hands and dots lined with luminous material and handcrafted leather straps with a quick-change mechanism The timepieces have been able to adorn themselves with their German-Made origin since 2022 because they have been produced in Ruhla ever since I don’t get a real feel for a watch without looking at straight one in the face… Hi dear William, I’m Wilfried from FWB, you are fully right, will talk to Alex if he could add some face pics. Meanwhile you can check them out at our website http://www.finewatches.berlin or at the related artcle about finewatchesberlin at watchpro In dem visionären Gebäude erkannte der „Spiegel“ nur eine „gebaute Kakophonie“ des Kammermusiksaals und manches andere gepasst Wenn sie nicht ganz real gebaut worden wären Lesen Sie auch:Wie Architektendiva Le Corbusier der Kragen platzte Der „Spiegel“ spottete 1984 über die „vielzipfelige Philharmonie“ bezeichnete Scharouns Ensemble als „gebaute Kakophonie“ sein Instrumente-Museum gleich nebenan zusammen mit seinem geplanten Kammermusiksaal ebendort als „Tochtergeschwülste“ der Philharmonie Scharoun insgesamt sei von „krautigem humanem Gedankengut geprägt“ der sich zeitweilig kaum mit rechten Winkeln anfreunden konnte und das Urstromtal der Spree als städtebauliches Muster für Berlin ansah hatte es nach dem zweiten Krieg zunächst tatsächlich nicht leicht Vor dem Bau der Philharmonie 1956 mussten sich die Menschen in der geteilten Stadt erst langsam wieder an den großen Architekten gewöhnen näherte sich dem Werkbund an – allesamt Vereinigungen Er baute bei deren Großprojekten mit wie der Stuttgarter Weißenhofsiedlung (1927) Oder bei der Großsiedlung Siemensstadt in Charlottenburg Nord (1929-1931) deren städtebauliches Konzept er verantwortete und für die namhafte Architekten der Moderne wie Walter Gropius Otto Bartning und andere die einzelnen Blöcke entwarfen Auch interessant:Das Hansaviertel war West-Berlins Antwort auf die Stalinallee Sein Generalplan des Stadtteils mit dem Namen des Weltkonzerns verschaffte ihm auf einen Schlag internationale Berühmtheit Auch einen einzelnen Block darin entwarf er dem er sich angeschlossen hatte und der sich in aller Regel unverspielt mit glatten Fassaden gab tritt in diesem persönlichen Beitrag zur Siedlung bereits ein bald regelmäßiges Stilmittel des an der Waterkant Geborenen zutage: Seine architektonischen Anspielungen an den Schiffsbau die dem Block gleich nach Fertigstellung den Spitznamen „Panzerkreuzer“ beibrachte Kommandobrücken treten dort aus den Außenwänden hervor in noch deutlicherer Assoziation zu Bullaugen in dem wir auch einem anderen aus Werften bekannten Element begegnen: den Oberlichtern Bis dahin hatte Scharoun noch Durststrecken zu durchlaufen Anders als andere Architekten der Weimarer Moderne musste sich auf den privaten Eigenheimbau beschränken der immerhin einige Meisterwerke hervorbrachte widmete er sich wieder intensiv der utopischen Architekturzeichnung aber kaum definierte Großbauten kamen dabei aufs Papier manche pflanzengleich in die Wolken wachsend Hatten die zerbombte Stadt seine Phantasie für neue unendliche Freiräume geweckt Bestellen Sie hier den wöchentlichen Newsletter mit Tipps zum Wochenende in Berlin in Ost-Berlin die Weimarer Moderne wiederzubeleben doch die SED fand diese nun – auf Weisung aus Moskau – als bourgeois-dekadent das Scharoun an der Stalinallee noch modernistisch bauen durfte ließ die Partei zum Gefallen Stalins hinter schnellwachsenden Pappeln verstecken Lesen Sie auch:Wie das Tiergartenviertel zur ersten Adresse Berlins wurde Anfängliche Akzeptanzprobleme lagen auch am Standort: zwar mitten im alten Zentrum zu Mauerzeiten aber zunächst in einer Wüstenei in der vor allem der Massenverkehr der Entlastungsstraße dominierte Und mit gebührendem Abstand zur Neuen Nationalgalerie seines alten Kollegen Mies ganz im Gegensatz zu seinem Bau der Inbegriff des Rechten Winkels und der Glasfronten – ein Spannungsbogen in dem sich bald das Kulturforum ausbreitete jedenfalls seines Namens und seiner glänzenden goldeloxierten Aluminiumplättchen an den Fassaden Gegen Ende seines Lebens kam in Berlin noch ein erkleckliches Volumen an Scharoun-Bauten zusammen zum Wohnen wie am Reinickendorfer Zabel-Krüger-Damm oder am Komplex rings um den Mehringplatz auch für Büros wie im AOK-Haus dort gleich nebenan Andererseits markante Schiffsbau-Stilistik wie eben die Staatsbibliothek („Stabi“) oder weitere „zipfelige“ Vielfach war er dabei allerdings nur mehr als Phantom-Baumeister unterwegs weil andere – vor allem sein enger Mitarbeiter Edgar Wisniewski – kurz vor oder auch lange nach seinem Tod Scharouns künstlerische Skizzen in baureife Entwürfe verwandeln mussten stellvertretend für die Berliner äußern zu müssen Scharoun war in Berlin zur anerkanntesten Kapazität des Berufsstandes mit der Fliege avanciert „Hauptsache Bewegung“ sollen seine letzten Worte gewesen sein.