Das Märkische Viertel
Construction on the Märkische Viertel in northern Berlin began in 1963 under the supervision of a team of nationally and internationally recognized architects. In the ensuing decades, under the management of the housing association GESOBAU AG, the Viertel evolved from a district that generated controversy throughout the Federal Republic into an exemplary large-scale residential settlement.
Architects Werner Düttmann, Hans Müller and Georg Heinrichs wanted to design a better world, with humane dwellings for both inner city residents displaced by redevelopment and evacuees from the east. The concept underlying their masterplan was to shape the landscape via architectural structures. They thought in large forms and proportions, designing a prototypical satellite town for northern Berlin that would contain 16,000 apartments for 40,000 residents, while doing justice to the varied requirements of occupants. Architects such as Oswald M. Ungers, Chen Kuen Lee, Ernst Gisel and René Gagès took part in the construction of this large-scale estate, which caused a furor simply by virtue of its immense scale, unusual for Western Europe.
Already in 1964, just after the first residents moved in, the Märkische Viertel, nicknamed the "MV,” was deemed controversial. Some condemned it as a "concrete citadel launched from the drafting table,” a "stony nightmare,” or "the Parrot Estate,” while others celebrated it as a glowing example of a model large-scale settlement. Only recent years have seen an unprejudiced and discriminating appraisal of the project.
The residents themselves have always seen their homes in a more positive light than outside observers. In 2003, a survey commissioned by the GESOBAU AG suggested they were perfectly comfortable in their neighborhood. And their children — and even children’s children — often remain in the district. What is the secret of the Maerkische Viertel? How was this once inhospitable bedroom community transformed into a coveted residential district, and how is the transition between generations to be accomplished? Can the Maerkische Viertel sustain itself under the altered economic situation affecting residential housing, or have drastic interventions into the existing architecture become a necessity?
The exhibition in Aedes Gallery features the conceptions and dreams of the estate’s originators, and shows what has become of them. It also features the realities of contemporary experiences with the settlement, as well as the strategies for structural improvements currently preoccupying planners from the group "UrbanPlan.” And it displays the visions of architectural students at Stuttgart’s Art Academy (under Prof. Matthias Sauerbruch) and the TU in Berlin (under Prof. Finn Geipel), who have devoted time to investigating the settlement.
Welcome:
Kristin Feireiss, Berlin
Jürgen Lüdtke, Vorstand GESOBAU AG, Berlin
Dr. Hans Stimmann, Senatsbaudirektor, Berlin
Prof. Dr. Falk Jaeger, Kurator, Berlin
Prof. Matthias Sauerbruch, Berlin
