Home Architecture Talk

what impact did the destruction of berlin during ww2 have on the architecture of the city?

i know that berlin was destructed during ww2, what interests me is what impact did this have on the city, by this i mean was it a bad thing as it destroyed very good and interesting buildings or a good thing as it gave berlin a clean start as old and dangerous buildings were destroyed as well as giving architects a chance to build and new and remodeled city that was much better than the old. my other reason for asking is to me berlin has 3 eras of architecture, the old and great palaces 50s architecture and the modern architecture and that has left it as a broken city in a way

Public Comments

1. I think you're also ignoring the impact of the Cold War. In the west, you have a city where space was dear, and prices went up rapidly till reunification. Cutting edge styles. Then in the East, you have some rebuilding, all in Stalin modern. Then with reunification, the old restraint is off the city. New areas are suddenly open to redevelopment.
2. Have you seen the mess that is Potsdam Plaza? This was constructed in the razed area where the Berlin Wall stood. Suprisingly, mainly key buildings survived - Brandenberg Gate, The Reichstag, Templehof airport and so on. The RAF's destruction was as nothing to what Hitler planned - Berlin would have been flattend to make way for Germania, the capital of the Reich, desinged by Albert Speer in a dismal neo-classical style.
3. Most German cities are like that - full of alienating brutalist architecture.
4. Well James this might not have much to do with architecture but after all the rubble was gathered up-5 cubic yards for every citizen- it was piled on 7 huge piles so large that a ski resort was built on one of them. sp