Archive: The Capital City of Berlin - Documentation

The clearing of the building field can also include the demolition of existing buildings or parts thereof. Tearing down and demolition are drastic and far-reaching urban-constructional measures and create both public approval and protest. A piece of history, a point of orientation in the city’s image or a symbol is lost when the building goes. The development measure made demolition necessary where old buildings would have hindered a required new construction or other urban-constructional goals were to be realised. The individual examples show what goals were fulfilled by the demolition of buildings

1. Ministry of Foreign Affairs - due to too-high renovation costs
2. Palast der Republik - after the asbestos removal necessary for the demolition for the construction of the Humboldt Forum due to Federal parliamentary resolution
3. Day-Care Center Jerusalemer Straße - for the realisation of the new construction on Hausvogteiplatz and replacement of the old day-care center in need of repair by a new building
4. Office building Niederwallstraße 1-5 - for the reconstruction of one of the buildings architecturally representative of Hausvogteiplatz
5. Tattersall (Luisenstraße 22-24) and residential block Luisenstraße - for the realisation of the Bundestag building Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus
6. Toyota car service at Schiffbauerdamm - for the realisation of the Bundestag building Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus and the designing of a shore promenade
7. Loose car service, Luisenstraße 20 - for the execution of street reconstruction.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the GDR as an Example

On 6 February 1995, the Combined Commission of Federation/Berlin decided upon the demolition of the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the GDR due to too-high renovation costs. The urban-architectural aim was to undo the sealing-off of the inner city by removing the 11-storey building. The demolition began in mid-1995 and could already be completed at the end of the year for the most part. The removal of the demolition waste primarily took place via the Spree Canal. The files existing in the building were handed over to the Federation for evaluation and storage in the archives; social institutions took care of the furniture. The demolition method - stepwise removal of building substance - was specified due to the architectural-historical significance of the neighbouring Friedrichswerder Church - the building was taken apart storey by storey with consistent separation of the building materials, with a minimum of swinging. The refilling of the building ditch and the design of the open spaces had taken place by April 1996. Remains of the foundation of the former Bauakademie were excavated and documented in cooperation with the Provincial Monument Bureau.