An exhibit on display at Café Moskau in Berlin, a historic building from the early 1960s, is currently showing hundreds of unbuilt past visions for the city. Collected by architect Carsten Krohn, the unbuilt Berlin projects showcase architects’ relentless fascination with the city that has such a rich history. The projects, which were designed between 1907 and 1997, exemplify different theories and design approaches of the era. The proposals, although all different, share the common desire to re-conceptualize and challenge the accepted architectural ways of the time. The projects were a way for the architects to create a new identity for the city with dramatically cutting edge ideas – such as Mies van der Rohe’s plans for a skyscraper on Friedrich Strasse in 1921.
A lot of visionary ideas intended for Berlin were never realized due to various historical happenings, such as the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall, which hindered building planning. Yet, the exhibit is a way to see and imagine what could have been if, perhaps, Austrian architect Joseph Maria Olbrich’s new central square were constructed, or if Ludwig Hilbersheimer’s 1924 vision of a “commercial city” were implemented.
