culture filter
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architect: reenie (karin) elliott
building type+location: an inaccessible section of ‘no mans land’ near potsdamer platz is reinhabited as a gathering space for east and west berliners. a series of performance spaces along the former berlin wall effect a ‘culture filter’ between east and west: church, theatre, cinema, drive in movie
invisible elements: the invisible boundary of the berlin wall is rotated in sections by 90 degrees. these new walls become an urban stage, a spectacle to replace the political theatre that was enacted against the backdrop of the former berlin wall.
Twinned theatres at checkpoint charlie: the theatre of west Berlin is inaccessible from east Berlin. Only west Berliners can enjoy the spectacle on stage. However, only east Berliners can see the operation mechanisms of the fly tower, where stage sets are repositioned when not in use, suspended in the void. The same strategy applies to the theatre of east Berlin. The project is a political allegory - where the stage sets should be read as political monouvres.
client: nara toto, japan architect
competition date: 1992