How do buildings shape our lives, and how do we shape them in return? The seminar VOICES OF THE CITY invites you to explore the housing legacy of post-war modernism in West Berlin — not just as architectural landmarks, but as living spaces with evolving social, cultural, and political meaning. Many of these buildings are now at the center of debates: Should they be preserved, adapted, or even replaced?
This seminar combines personal narratives with photographs, videos, interviews, and essays to create a multimedia archive that documents the past, examines the present, and explores possibilities for the future of the Schwarzwaldsiedlung in Berlin Reinickendorf. Through architectural analysis and urban research, we will use this settlement as a case study to understand its development over time.
By engaging and interacting with the people of the settlement, we will uncover how architecture shapes daily life and explore the relationship between the built environment and the community’s experiences.
- Trainer/in: Benedict Wahlbrink