triangle, alexanderplatz, saul bass is dead..

Triangle: its not only wood versa computer, its also about the two
ways to prove things, simulation in wood and sand or whatever and
the mathematical prove with a pencil on a piece of paper...maybe
this is even more important for the wood piece, makes it even more
antiquated...or motivating for children. Btw, archie for pythagor.zip..

Saul Bass is dead, as my paper says. Any comments??

Alexanderplatz is the link between Unter den Linden with the so called
Humbold-University, the old University founded by Friedrich Wilhelm
of Prussia, the Friedrich Strasse etc on one hand and the other part
of Berlin, on the other side of Alexanderplatz sotosay..

I am not a keen observer of all proposals, but I dont like the whole
thing of planning very much. To me, what should be done first, is
obvious: trash all this junk under the TV tower, so that there is free
space around it, trash the Palace of the Republic, the Hotel oposite
of the ugly church, the Hotel with GOLDEN WINDOWPANES (!!!:))) is already
on the trashlist, dunno if it is already demolished, and reconstruct the
Stadtschloss in one way or another. I think it wouldnt have been necessary
to trash the former State Department of the former DDR too, it wasnt such
a break in Unter den Linden, the federal government needs space in Berlin
too and buildings arent to be blamed for a politic we didnt like. But
I think the Stadtschloss would be worth rebuilding. NOT for its history,
but for the rythm of the street.

I was lucky to see the simulation without knowing it. Last time, I was in
Berlin, I had an appointment with an old friend now sitting in the office
of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for dinner in the westend. And I thought,
walking through Tiergarten from Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse to Meineckestrasse
would be fine. Never seen this Part of former Eastberlin, had been only one
half day in the East in 1983, more or less only on Alexanderplatz, walking
trough the big department store, buying lots of nice lowtech thingies like
pencil sharpeners, gumms etc.., sitting in the cafes, talking with people,
watching girls in bookshops, never able to go to Paris or London, the West
only some miles away.., watching the subway, which goes overground on
Alexanderplatz, discovering the Hotel International, meeting some strange
Eastern Punk, who showed us the Alex Grill, a cheap place to eat, allways
recognisable as westerners, my shoes, my jacket, my watch, maybe my look,
my way of walking..

Anyway, Unter den Linden was new to me and when I left Bahnhof
Friedrichstrasse it was clear where to go even without knowing what it was.
First street in germany that could be compared to places in London or Paris,
if you know what I mean, lets take the streets around Trafalgar Sqare or
Les Champs Elisees, not exactely but somehow... And walking wondering what
this is, lots of old palaces and other buildings of the university etc,
I saw it thinking WOW!! What a rythm of buildings, what a nice angle to put
a building into the direction of the street. Check it out!! I have somewhere
a reproducton of an old painting, that I should scan and put on the web.

Those are the fundamental questions of the layout of the city, and if they
were properly solved, the rest would be easy. It could be build on demand,
if there were a need. The french Galleries on Friedrichstrasse are
already bancrupt. Cum grano salis...

Currently there is another question of perspective in discussion. Cullen,
who was the promotor of the wrapped Reichstag, wrote about the roof of this
thing in the mentioned FAZ. What interests me more is the question of the
streets to be reconstructed. What a reconstruction if buildings  can be
higher than they were?? One additional floor..... Lets have things as they
were and wait. The basic layout of the city cannot be improved. Btw, Beuys
wrote something funny in this context in Dick Higgins Pop Architecture
Concept Art: Die Mauer um 5 Centimeter erhoehen, bessere Perspektive.....

Anyway, form follows function,


Heiko who isnt native in english, it isnt even my second language...