One of the pleasures of arriving at a port-city is the first impression, the immediate surfaces, the familiar-strangeness. The roll of the train into the station; cinematic movement, office blocks, bridges, viaducts the electrical infrastructure of the inter-city and suburban railways, glimpses of an earlier time, when capital took different forms, red brick buildings withContinue reading “Notes on Hamburg and its Housing”
Category Archives: Germany
Hufeisensiedlung, Berlin
Berlin is waking up. In every house and apartment bells are ringing, chiming, clanging. The sleepy population rises from their beds; big comfy doubles with another human close beside (some loved, others not so much, if at all), single beds, bunk beds, sofa beds, mattresses on the floor, piles of rags in unusual corners. TheContinue reading “Hufeisensiedlung, Berlin”
Wohnstadt Carl Legien, Berlin
The Carl Legien estate was built between 1928 to 1930 with originally 1149 flats. The two architects were Bruno Taut and Franz Hillinger and the project manager was Martin Wagner. Some brief biographical details: Bruno Taut (* 4 May 1880 Königsberg – † 24 December 1938 Istanbul) Taut was an artist and architect and influencedContinue reading “Wohnstadt Carl Legien, Berlin”
Ostheim, Stuttgart
Ostheim was discovered by chance, and perhaps the experience was more enjoyable for that. I was going to the REWE supermarket to buy a couple of bottles of beer. I walked along Landhausstrasse and slowly my senses started to pick up that there was something rather attractive here, rather unusual, in the local streets. I’mContinue reading “Ostheim, Stuttgart”
Commodity Fetishism 