Publisher's Synopsis
In this volume German photographer Gerrit Engel has compiled an inventory of 234 Berlin buildings. As in his 2006 work Manhattan NEW YORK Engel presents the buildings in chronological order, beginning with Berlin's oldest surviving building, the Nikolai Church, which dates from 1230, and ending in the present day with David Chipperfield's reconstruction of Museum Island. This chronological progression highlights historical ruptures and dislocations, as well as the often contradictory effects they had on Berlin's urban landscape. Gerrit Engel adheres to the aesthetics of objective documentation in his photographic appraisal. His color photographs avoid normative judgments or contrived spectacles. Instead, they are sober portraits of single buildings that bear witness to the present-day condition of their subjects and implicitly to the city in which they stand. The opening essay by Matthias Sauerbruch of the Sauerbruch Hutton architectural agency provides a historical and critical introduction to Berlin's architectural development. The architectural historian Detlef Jessen-Klingenberg provides historical commentary on the construction of the different buildings. Maps situate the buildings within Berlin as an aid to readers and anyone who wishes to visit the actual sites.
