Das Orakel von Berlin

The architects

Cityplaners – Sculpturists

Well known Architects, Cityplaners and Sculpturists had been working throughout the different epoches at the Rondell/ Belle-Alliance-Platz / Mehringplatz.

Werner Düttmann

Rauch

Gerlach

Werner Düttmann

The former director of the Academy, Werner Düttmann , collaborated with Scharoun on

preliminary drafts for the reconstruction of the Mehringplatz as early as 1968.
But when the wall was built a mere 7oo m from the square, the idea of constructing a centre of commerce became unviable, as investor and the business community slowly but surely withdrew from the area.
Düttmann consequently planned a residential quarter, which was eventually built as a state-funded housing estate.

Hans Scharoun

Scharoun`s design for the reconstruction of the Mehringplatz was based on the circular shape of the square`s historic heyday. According to his plans, the area was to be a centre of trade and commerce with office and administration buildings in a traffic-free zone at the heart of Berlin. However, Scharoun died in 1972, before completing the plans Werner Düttmann took charge of the project.

The Afterwar Years

The Visionary

The destruction of Berlin meant that town planners were left with the daunting task of completely redesigning the city. Armed with the idea of creating an innovative traffic solution, it was preposed that the city be linked with four motorway bypasses. The so-called South tangent was to become a six-lane street that would pass by the Mehringplatz Square.

Under these difficult criteria, a competition entitled “Hauptstadt Berlin” (Berlin- A Capital City) was launched. Both the East and West of the city were included. The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 however heralded what seemed to be the definitive separation of the two parts of the city. The Berlin Senat sought out six of the award winners of 1959 for their expertise to rebuild the Mehringplatz Square. Among them was the architect Hans Scharoun,who won the competition.
Scharoun’s plans involved a focus on the historical circular form of the Square, as well as his own architectural aspirations, which had not so much in common with the austerity and radicalism of modern architecture, but rather drew their inspiration from the Baroque style.
The area was to become a centre of trade and commerce, a business area in the centre of Berlin, loosely encircled by high rise flats and thus free from crossing traffic. His plans for the AOK administration building, a sixteen-story tower block were completed in 1968.

The time plates

Die Friedrichstrasse

Project history

The surroundings

The world oracle

The language of colour