Palast der Republik

peter_j

Received this morning:

Dear 'butterpaper'-team,

I am pleasantly surprised with you article about Palast der Republik in Berlin and with mentioning my website (www.palast.laud.nl) underneath the article! Herby some more information about my project and website about Palast der Republik:

During my study at the faculty of architecture at the Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) I visited the interior of the Palast for the first time and I was fascinated by both the current condition of the building as well with its background. There are very few buildings, as far as I know, which are emotional-charged in such a way as the Palast der Republik is. Since this first visit to the skeleton of the once so proud Palast, and especially since I started my investigation and design-proposal for the Palast, it has been, like no other project, subject of many (and returning) discussions with people from various backgrounds (geographical and educational). These discussions are without exception based on emotional thoughts and not on plain facts, nevertheless everybody has a very clear opinion about the Palast.

Interesting it is to observe the search withing modern architecture to express or evoke a certain emotion through an architectural form, shape or space on the one hand and the way the Palast recalls this emotions through its presence, history and meaning as well as - although in a very different way - through the experience of the stripped interior and the events which took place with this interior as a fascinating scenery.

The Palast has been questioned by the modern society (politically) since the reunification of Germany (ironically the only important decision which was taken within the Palast itself), but even though the demolition plans were confirmed over and over again the Palast kept subject of profound discussion. The cultural events which took place in the past years contributed to a large extend to this discussion and their success showed the architectural as well as social potential of the Palast in its extraordinary condition.

Build as an icon for an Utopian society, Palast der Republik offered a roof to avant-garde artists to represent their Utopian ideas of the future of our present society. My design tries to combine the various ways in which the Palast appeals to peoples emotions without changing the exeptional experience of the building in its present condition, the website shows at the same time the disjointed arguments for the demolition as well as a reconstruction of the historical Castle.

About me: After graduating from the Faculty of Architecture of the Delft University of Technology at the start of 2005, I moved to Berlin. Currently I'm working as an architect in a small but progressive architectural office with several projects in Berlin and in the same time I observe the decline of the Palast. My interest in the remainders of the socialistic-regime in Eastern-Europe has been excited during my exchange studies in Wroclaw (Poland) where I discovered the richness and ideological ideas in many (now deteriorated) buildings with often misplaced negative associations.

with kind regards,

Leander Moons
www.laud.nl

Thanks Leander. Please keep us up to date with the demolition (or otherwise) or the Palace. It seems as if many government buildings from the era are becoming endangered - either due to regime change, or more mundane issues such as asbestos, technology infrastructure, or shrinking staff requirements. What they often do here is gut the building back to concrete structure and start again, putting in apartments.