View of the stairwell of Oscar Niemeyer's disc tower in the Hansaviertel district of Berlin

© Fiona Hirschmann

Photo Series: Berlin’s Hansaviertel District

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Carla Huttenloher

, 17 min reading time

As part of the international construction trade fair Interbau of 1957, a highly modern residential neighbourood was built. Photographer Fiona Hirschmann explored the Hansaviertel district for us and captured some of its highlights.

The building by Dutch architects Jacob Berend Bakema and Johannes Hendrik van den Broek

© Fiona Hirschmann

The building, designed by Dutch architects Jacob Berend Bakema and Johannes Hendrik van den Broek, is characterised by a complex split-level structure of opposing storeys. The neighbouring building by Luciano Baldessari is another example of rational architecture.

The neighbouring houses Brakema/van den Broek and Baldessari

© Fiona Hirschmann

Ground floor view of the building by Luciano Balessari

© Fiona Hirschmann

After it was almost completely destroyed during the World War II, work for construction of the new Hansaviertel began in 1956.

The entrance to number 6 Hanseatenweg

© Fiona Hirschmann

The row of flats by architect Max Taut on Hanseatenweg, the Hassenpflug house at the junction with Bartnigallee and the building by Franz Schuster at number 6 Hanseatenweg are each in their own way typical examples of modern western architecture of the 1950s.

Max Taut’s row of flats in the Hansaviertel neighbourhood

© Fiona Hirschmann

The Hassenpflug house at the junction of Bartnigallee and Hanseatenweg

© Fiona Hirschmann

Egon Eiermann’s high-rise disc building

© Fiona Hirschmann

On Bartningallee, we spot the geometric and clear architecture of Egon Eiermann’s high-rise building with smaller flats and commercial space — initially provided for the citizens of a still young democracy. Kay Fisker’s two-part slab building and the pentagonal central structure by Otto Senn show the diversity of geometric architectural designs located within the Hansaviertel.

The house by Kay Fiske

© Fiona Hirschmann

the pentagonal building by Otto Senn

© Fiona Hirschmann

53 internationally renowned architects were invited to take part in the redesign of the district near Berlin’s Tiergarten.

The high-rise building by architect Hans Schwippert in the Hansaviertel neighbourhood

© Fiona Hirschmann

With its sunny yellow accents, the 16-storey tower block designed by architect Hans Schwippert rises towards the sky. Originally, a more subtle colour scheme had been realised — as can perhaps still be guessed from the adjacent high-rise by architect duo Eugène Beaudouin and Raymond Lopez.

The high-rise by Eugène Beaudouin and Raymond Lopez

© Fiona Hirschmann

The high-rise by Eugène Beaudouin and Raymond Lopez

© Fiona Hirschmann

The Academy of Arts near Berlin’s Tiergarten

© Fiona Hirschmann

At the edge of the Tiergarten park grounds, the scenery changes: Werner Düttmann’s Akademie der Künste (of West Berlin) is a relatively low ensemble that seems to blend seamlessly with the neighbouring nature, whose elements are quoted through an inner courtyard and the materials used for the buildings interior.

A building used as a studio by the Akademie der Künste on Hanseatenweg

© Fiona Hirschmann

Exhibition building of the Akademie der Künste on Hanseatenweg

© Fiona Hirschmann

As a counter-project to the development of Karl-Marx-Allee in East Berlin, architects whose designs corresponded to a Western idea of ‘Neues Bauen’ were commissioned to rebuild the Hansaviertel.

View at the entrance of Niemeyer’s housing block

© Fiona Hirschmann

The seven double columns that support the block by architect Oscar Niemeyer are striking. By placing the entrances under them, they become part of the accessible building structure. Niemeyer was guided in his work by Le Corbusier’s idea of modern living. In 2013, Niemeyer’s architectural archive was declared a UNESCO Memory of the World document.

View of one of the double columns of the Niemeyer House

© Fiona Hirschmann

The Bürgerverein Hansaviertel e.V. was founded in 2004 with the motto ‘Living heritage – living monument’ and is committed to the preservation and maintenance of the Hansaviertel. Their website is a great place to take a virtual ‘walk’ through the neighbourhood. If you happen to live in Berlin, we recommend discovering the Hansaviertel in real life.