Modern Architecture in Berlin

Although Berlin's history encompasses more
than eight hundred years and its beginnings
reach back as far as the 12th century, its present-
day urban image is essentially characterized
by structures and building measures from
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Four
'modern' development phases, whose respective
qualities were vastly unalike, played a determining
role in this image: during the second half
of the 19th century, against the backdrop of industrialization,
Berlin's rise from a comprehensible
Prussian capital and residence to an expanding
metropolis of the German Empire; the
1920 consolidation of the city with the surrounding
93 townships, rural communities, and properties
to form 'Greater Berlin'; following the
destruction of World War II, working 'back to
back' politically, territorially, and regarding the
look of Berlin's divided, urban structure until
1990; and from the reunification to the present
day, the ongoing structural and spatial connections
as well as architectural refinements required
for Berlin's role as capital of the new
Federal Republic.
The contents of this architectural guide vividly
stand out against the backdrop of Berlin's recent
history - a course of events as multifaceted
as it was, in part, excessive, up until today. This
publication deliberately focuses on the city's last
100 years when, generation by generation, Berlin
daringly and almost obsessively rediscovered
itself architecturally. The selected examples not
only convey a visually impressive and representative
longitudinal progression, but also in which
form the most provocative of social movements,
changes and breaks presented themselves in
the architecture of the city.
With texts and images, the book presents
466 architectural works built from 1907 to the
present day. The author's choices support the
greater intention to present what can now be
deemed contemporary, typical and exemplary
about every period of Berlin's diverse, irregular,
and amazingly rich architectural history. That
the examples offered here blatantly declare
themselves products of the 'modern age' and
'Neues Bauen' permits them to be understood
as a 'manifesto in images' which consolidates
to a 20th-century architectural collage, whose
quality and wide range grant it an unquestionable
uniqueness.
Rolf Rave is an architect practising in Berlin
together with his wife Roosje. He comes from a
family of architects and art historians; his father,
Paul Ortwin Rave, director of the Berlin Nationalgalerie
until 1950 and director of the Berlin Kunstbibliothek
from 1950 to 1961, was the editor of
Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Lebenswerk from 1939
until his death in 1962.