Hansaviertel Berlin

If you’ve ever perused our bookstore, you’ve likely come across books by many of the post-war heavy-hitter Architects like Oscar Niemeyer, Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen, and Le Corbusier.  It’s wonderful to immerse yourself in the language and imagery of a book, but imagine if you could actually walk through a park and see examples from all of these architects and more, in one place?  

Well, most people don’t know about the incredible social housing project undertaken by the German Government after WWII (between 1957-1961) to help rebuild a small district of Berlin called Hansaviertel.

Interbau, as the international architectural exposition which accompanied the neighborhood was called, was a project to rebuild the smallest quarter of Berlin which had been completely destroyed during the war with the help of 50 master architects of the time.  The community includes modernist apartment buildings, single-family homes, a library, a shopping arcade, and a pair of intriguing churches.  

With buildings by Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, John Hedjuk, Sep Ruf and other “Starchitects” of the time, the area was meant to be a city of tomorrow.  Within this new city, domestic life, work, shopping, and leisure were all separated with great green swaths of parkland.  The buildings survive today as an example of what Modernist living could be: practical and generous, with many original community members still living in the area.

If you ever get a chance to travel again (who knows with the world being the way it is at the moment), and you find yourself in Berlin, do yourself a favour and tour this incredible gem of a neighbourhood where you can imagine yourself as a citizen of tomorrow.  Until then, beautiful pictures in pretty books will have to suffice!