Did you know that there are eight sites in Berlin that have UNESCO World Heritage status? There’s Museum Island and the Prussian Palaces and Parks, but also six modernist housing estates which have held the distinction for over a decade. The housing estates were built between 1913 and 1934 to alleviate severe housing shortages. Star architects Bruno Taut, Walter Gropius and Hans Scharoun (architect of the Berlin Philharmonic) rapidly realized new urban models offering affordable and modern housing with lots of light, air and sun with beautifully blooming gardens and green parks. The idea: offer an alternative to Berlin’s old buildings with dark courtyards and toilets in the stairwells. The housing estates – Hufeisensiedlung in Britz, Gartenstadt Falkenberg, Wohnstadt Carl Legien in Prenzlauer Berg and the Waldsiedlung Zehlendor – are still sought-after residential properties today, and not only for architects and designers. This includes the author Ben Buschfeld, who himself lives in the Hufeisensiedlung (architect: Bruno Taut) in Britz and runs the ‘Taut’s Home‘ museum there.
Taut’s house can be rented and is preserved in its original condition. This weekend, Buschfeld, who works as an architectural mediator and expert on 1920s architecture, is offering guided tours of the four of the six housing estates. These are considered Berlin’s most important contribution to international architectural history, both politically and in terms of design. They offered groundbreaking housing solutions for Berlin and provided answers to the highly topical questions of how we want to live and what politics can do for people. A worthwhile architectural walk with a lasting impact.
Text: Milena Kalojanov / Photos: Ben Buschfeld
Guided tours with Ben Buschfeld:
Hufeisensiedlung Britz (02.06.) from 17h
Gartenstadt Falkenberg (02.06.) from 10h30
Wohnstadt Karl Legien (03.06.) from 15h
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf (04.06.) from 10h30
You can register for a tour by emailing tours@buschfeld.com. Minimum number of ten participants. You can find more information here and here.
