Berlin Social Housing
An overview of Berlin’s urban history from WWI to the present day. The immediate post war years under the Weimar Republic saw the creation of Modernist social housing estates on the outskirts of the city with designs by Bruno Taut, Hans Scharoun, Bruno Walter, Walter Gropius many of which have now been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Berlin suffered tragic loss in the bombing during WWII and even greater destruction in the name of ‘Planning’ after the war as each side of the divided city erased the past. Each side attempted to build a model for the future illustrated by the work of Herman Henselmann in East Berlin, and the 1957 Interbau Exposition in West Berlin.
Berlin’s 1987 IBA provided a path to the reconstruction of the city after the Berlin Wall came down. Led by Josef Kleihues, the multiple case studies demonstrated how to repair the existing city fabric and design buildings that were in character with Berlin’s history. Projects designed by architects such as Rob Krier, Alvaro Siza, Aldo Rossi, Mario Botta, Werner Kreis and Ulrich Schaad.
Under the direction of Hans Stimmann, Berlin’s Senator for Planning and Housing 1986-2006, Berlin has continued to reconstruct its damaged urban fabric and to build mixed-income housing that continues in the spirit of the 1987 IBA.
View of Berlin looking northwest towards the new Hauptbahnhof and the Europa District to its north, a new mixed-use development on a former brownfield site.