The Swiss architect Le Corbusier once said that “if you want to be an architect, you should do two things: travel and read books.” Traveling allows architects to get insight into the different lifestyles of different people; as a result, seeing that helps create artwork that is humanely focused and provides direction for ideas on how to change the current design for a future one. German architecture ranges from the Baroque to the Modern, from Schinkel to Foster. Bauhaus was created in Germany, and there are many great and tiny icons to select from. Many Architects made their marks here. There are a lot of places to visit in Germany for Architects to learn about Architecture and design.
The Epitome of Architecture in Germany – Berlin City
For those who enjoy architecture, Berlin in Germany alone is a veritable architectural treasure trove. For example, the French Cathedral on Gendarmenmarkt, one of the city’s most picturesque squares, is also the location of the Deutscher Dom cathedral and the Konzerthaus concert hall. There is more than enough to see during your next week-long stay in the capital. Or the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church’s tower ruins in western Berlin, which serves as a potent reminder of conflict and devastation. From the point of view of the history of the country also, Berlin has a lot to offer from several museums to concentration camps, museums explaining the timeline and how things took place. Another brilliant example would be the Parliament Dom, which depicts the amalgamation of old and modern architecture. That Dom by Foster is transparent in material, and everyone is allowed to visit it as well which serves the message of transparency in the political system.
Bauhaus
While the Middle Ages are a bygone era, the legacy of the Bauhaus is still present in today’s art, architecture, and society. A 90-minute journey to the southwest of Berlin is Dessau, Germany where a sizable collection of buildings from Walter Gropius‘ Bauhaus School may be found. The Bauhaus School was established in Weimar in 1919. In the middle of the 1920s, Gropius had the semi-detached homes known as the Masters’ Houses built opposite the Bauhaus Building. The interiors of these cubic interlocking buildings are equipped with Marcel Breuer furnishings. Oskar Schlemmer, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and their families were among the earliest residents.
Quedlinburg City
Quedlinburg is at the base of the Harz mountains by following the Elbe upriver, via the Saale and the Bode. It demonstrates that beautiful buildings can be found anywhere, even in rural Germany. The 24,000-person town is well-known for its Old Town. It will transport you to the Middle Ages as you stroll through it. Atlast count, there were 2,069 half-timbered structures from six centuries, more than any other German town or city. In 1994, the town’s buildings were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Museum for Half-Timbered Architecture is in the Ständerbau stand building, and visitors can schedule excursions there.
Einstein Tower
The Einstein Tower is an astrophysical observatory in Potsdam, Germany built by architect Erich Mendelson in the early 1920s. The telescope supports experiments and observations to validate Albert Einstein’s relativity theory. Light from the telescope is directed down through the shaft to the basement where the instruments and laboratory are located. Although Einstein never worked there, he supported the construction and operation of the telescope. It is still a working solar observatory today. It also faced a lot of issues in construction because of the war and hence a lot of repair and maintenance in POE is required. It is a very interesting building in terms of knowing the design vs execution challenges.
Image 10_Einstein Tower_© Clicked by author – Prashanti Poojara
Vitra Design Museum
Vitra amassed an expanding collection of chairs and other pieces of furniture throughout time. A shed-like structure was initially envisioned for storage and display purposes to make the collection available to the public. However, the initial purpose was enlarged during the development of Frank Gehry’s first building in Europe. The Vitra Design Museum in Germany was founded as a separate foundation with the mission of researching and popularizing design and architecture. The Vitra Design Museum building, despite its modest size, evolved as a programmed de-constructivist collage of towers, ramps, and cubes. Its expressive shapes are not random; instead, they are influenced by their purpose and illumination.
Image 11_Vitra Design Museum_© www.vitra.com/en-be/about-vitra/campus/architecture/architecture-vitra-design-muse
Image 12_Vitra Design Museum_© www.vitra.com/en-be/about-vitra/campus/architecture/architecture-vitra-design-muse
Magdeburg
The central German city of Magdeburg is located on the Elbe River. Otto the Great is interred at the Gothic-style Magdeburg Cathedral, which is located in the heart of the city. With displays of archaeology and local history, the Museum of Cultural History explains the significance of the city during the Middle Ages. A modern art gallery and sculpture park are located within the Romanesque monastic complex of Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen. The oldest Gothic-style Protestant cathedral in Germany is Magdeburg Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Saints Maurice and Catherine. One of the final works of architecture by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser is also one of Magdeburg’s most prominent tourist attractions. The Hundertwasser Building adds yet another monument to the Breiter Weg in the shape of an inventive building that injects a burst of vibrant culture. It is situated among a variety of Baroque facades and instances of modern architecture.
Image 13_Hundertwasser Building_© Clicked by author – Prashanti Poojara
Image 14_Magdeburg Gothic Cathedral_© Clicked by author – Prashanti Poojara
There is still a lot more to cover in Germany like Bastei Rock formation and other hiking spots, Frankfurt – the city of finance, Heidelberg city – known to be very beautiful and untouched through wars, Cologne city and its Dom Catherdral, Munich and its beauty and sophistication and so on. As an architect, it would be interesting to travel around Germany to observe different architectural styles in buildings describing the era in which they were built. From a larger context of city planning also, a few cities can be studied to know how they’re connected with nearby suburbs or towns, or smaller cities.
Citations:
En.wikipedia.org. n.d. Magdeburg Cathedral – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdeburg_Cathedral>
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Magdeburg, L., n.d. The GREEN CITADEL OF MAGDEBURG. [online] Magdeburg-tourist.de. Available at: <https://www.magdeburg-tourist.de/Start/Tourism-Leisure/Portrait-of-the-city/Sights/index.php?La=2&NavID=698.47&object=tx%7C37.6876.1&ModID=9&FID=115.350.2>
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Suneja, P., 2018. Relevance of Travel in Architecture. [online] World Architecture Community. Available at: <https://worldarchitecture.org/articles/cvnnm/relevance_of_travel_in_architecture.html#:~:text=Traveling%20gives%2C%20to%20the%20architects,design%20for%20a%20future%20one.&text=Traveling%20opens%20doors%20to%20timeless%20architecture.>
[Accessed 9 October 2022].
Vitra.com. n.d. Vitra | 05 – Vitra Design Museum. [online] Available at: <https://www.vitra.com/en-be/about-vitra/campus/architecture/architecture-vitra-design-museum>
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