Archive: The Capital City of Berlin - Documentation

One arrives in Spreebogenpark after crossing the Spree. The Swiss landscape architects Weber and Saurer conceived it as a classical park with a modern character. It consists of a spacious level lawn upon which two symmetrical, slanted lawn levels are placed. A "landscape window" focusses the view onto Humboldthafen. Clear pathways, loosely grouped trees at the path intersections and a shore promenade with an exposed supporting wall, in which large ramps and stairs are integrated, characterise the design. The Swiss Embassy is embedded in the park at its historical location (still divided by the provisional detour at present). The annexe was designed by the Swiss architects Diener and Diener.

We now cross the Otto-von-Bismark-Allee which belongs to the system of the four-rowed avenues accompanying the "Band des Bundes" extending from Moabiter Werder to Luisenstraße with a length of about 1.5 kilometres. A total of 450 oaks have been planted along the avenues.

Our path now leads through the Forum. Like the Platz der Republik and Friedrich-Ebert-Platz, it was designed by Cornelia Müller and Jan Wehberg, Berlin. The Forum between the Federal Chancellery and the Paul-Löbe-Haus is a place of assembly and at the same time a transit area of the bordering urban areas. The design very reservedly limits itself to an interplay of lawns and slab strips. Water-walls forming part of a fountain system lend the location a cheerful character. Groves of trees on the side surround the Forum, continuing the architectural lines found in the "Band des Bundes".)

The Platz der Republik is designed as a rambling level lawn. Hedge thickets on the side, relating to the corner towers of the Reichstag, divide the square. With its spacious open areas, the square can well serve its function as a political and cultural place of assembly. On the western half of the square are the stone sculptures of the sculptors' colloquium which took place in the 1960s on the occasion of the construction of the Wall; they have now been integrated into the new design. Numerous groups of trees extend the atmosphare of Tiergarten park far into the Parliamentary Quarter, emphasising the openness of the square.

Friedrich-Ebert-Platz is located immediately on the east side of the Reichstag building. The surface design with granite and mosaic paving appropriately fits the historical building; the generous granite slabs in front of the entrance make an inviting gesture. The former course of the Berlin Wall is marked by an inlaid band. The square has a calm, well-balanced atmosphere and is structured with only a few elements: light stones which appear to float, the stairway to the Spree and a group of trees in front of the garden of the Parliamentary Association. The visitor arrives down at the Spree shore via a broad stairway, where the stylised crosses framed in metal grids serve as a memorial to the victims of the Wall. The "Spreesprung" designed by Stephan Braunfels can be experienced from here especially; it creates the connection between the Bundestag buildings on both sides of the river.