Berlin Thoughts - Bruno Taut, Architect

No new pictures today, I left my sd card in the computer.  But some from yesterday. 

Some things are starting to look familiar. It seemed like a warm day today though it was only in the high 60s (@20C). We met M's friend again and visited the flea market in old East Berlin. I bought a used cell phone. Now I need to get a sim card. Also bought a converter plug. Germany has round prongs that go into the wall. I think I got what I needed but at M's place, the sockets are deep in the wall and this won't fit in the hole.

I am still trying to make sense of things here. Blue jeans, generally tighter than in the US, are the norm. T shirts, long sleeve t's, hooded sweatshirts, layers, baggy sweaters, it's a very informal, almost intentionally sloppy look. I almost fit in.

M is staying in a really wonderful place. I was surprised to learn today that it was built in 1928. The Bauhaus architect, Bruno Taut, designed it as public housing for working class families. The rooms are very big, there are lots of windows, and while the floors are original, some of it has been modernized inside. It also has lots of garden area and the owner was busy planting flower pots on this first really nice Sunday.  Here's from Spiritus-Temporis: 

In 1924 [Taut] was made chief architect of GEHAG, a private housing concern, and designed several successful large residential developments ("Gross-Siedlungen") in Berlin, notably the 1925 Horseshoe Development ("Hufeisensiedlung"), named for its configuration around a pond, and the 1926 Uncle Tom's Cabin Development ("Onkel-Toms Hutte") in Zehlendorf, oddly named for a local restaurant and set in a thick grove of trees. The designs featured controversially modern flat roofs, humane access to sun, air and gardens, and generous amenities like gas, electric light, and bathrooms. Critics on the political Right complained that these developments were too opulent for 'simple people'. The progressive Berlin mayor Gustav Böss defended them: "We want to bring the lower levels of society higher."

Here's a view downstairs from the kitchen to the sun room.

This is the view from M's work table.  It's not that clear in the picture, but there are two sets of windows with an empty space in between. 

Here's a view from M's bedroom. 


I think I'm still feeling the effects of jetlag and my body isn't quite at home here yet.  But people have been very tolerant of my reawakening German. 

We'll be here until Friday.  Easy Jet to London cost us 83 Euros for two one way, which seems pretty reasonable - about $120.

Here's M's room.  


More tomorrow.  (It's after 11pm here and people have work tomorrow.)