"A triumph of banality" - new US embassy in Berlin opens

[Skybird]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...555434,00.html

photos:
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,31844,00.html

I have to say, although some may call it a question of taste: visually the thing looks awful and simply terrible, and really is a mess for the surrounding location and atmophere and architecture - and that means something since that corner of the city I already did not like before (I know it from real life).

As the article says, German critics and newspapers unisono slam it, and I have not heared a single friendly word about it in private, too. It looks more like a high security prison in Bagdad, than an embassy in a western capital.

Regarding the representative value embassies also do have, the american architectures did their country no favour with this ugly thing. If this is the result of contemporary security assessements, then it tells something on the real score of that match between terrorists, and us (or America).

Boy is it ugly!

[Catfish]

Hi,
what a nice addition to the Bendler Block lol
Really there ARE much uglier buildings in Berlin ...
And very sad they tear down the old Tempelhof Airport.
Greetings,
Catfish

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Hi,

And very sad they tear down the old Tempelhof Airport.

They don't. It is a monument under protection. Just the airport stops operating. While the field maybe is used to build a park, or something else, the buildings will be sued for somethign different, but can't be deconstructed.

[mrbeast]

Nope.......Still can't see the embassy theres some crappy office block in the way with a US flag on it.................oh right now I get you

Perhaps the focus on security is to make the building so boring and generic that any terrorists will miss it entirely; walk straight past because that can't be the US embassy. :hmm:

Nice location next to the Brandenburg Gate so I guess the people inside will have something to look at.

I've seen worse buidings though. The Arndale Centre in Manchester (big shopping mall in the city centre) used to look like a giant public toilet, that was until the IRA kindly blew the front off it for us. Looks pretty respectable now.

[CCIP]

Eh, at least it's banal and not horrendously ugly as the one here in Ottawa!

(The American embassy here looks like a semi-futuristic fortress that smacks of the stereotypical militarism and arrogance that unfortunately some associate with America. What's worse, in recent years they blocked off a lane of traffic on each side of the embassy just to protect it from car bombs - so the scene looks even more arrogant and paranoid than it normally would.)

[joegrundman]

How very delicately put CCIP!

In prime central London an entire square is blocked off with concrete barricades to satisfy the security wishes of our best friend and protector.

[bradclark1]

Its because we want to feel special.

[SUBMAN1]

Too me, it looks like it meshes well with the architecture around it. And besides, I wouldn't trust the Germans much either to not try and bomb it. They are already sending out propaganda to say it looks ugly so some German decides to take it out!

-S

[bookworm_020]

Originally Posted by bradclark1

Its because we want to feel special.

Well at least the embassies in Canberra look OK, with many of them having a cutural influance on there desigh.

[Lurchi]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

Too me, it looks like it meshes well with the architecture around it [...]

I agree with this!

Berlin has been raped by hordes of mediocre architecture students since the wall came down.

You want proof?
Okay! Take a look at the new "Reichs"kanzlei
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:07...kanzleramt.jpg

The new U.S. Embassy fits into this very well ... and it is still one of the better buildings.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Lurchi

Berlin has been raped by hordes of mediocre architecture students since the wall came down.

Oh yes - OH YES!!!

Architectures should be held responsible for the visual crimes they commit. There are some corners and streets that I do recognize again only at second or third glance. And almost never the changes are for the better.

[Schroeder]

Sure, it's not a beauty but I think it's not that bad either.

I can still recall seeing our embassy in Canberra. No one of our travelling group took a picture of it because it was so ugly.....

[Stealth Hunter]

Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles,
Uber alles in der Welt,
Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze
Bruderlich zusammenhalt,
Von der Maas bis an die Memel,
Von der Etsch bis an der Belt.


Good old Germany; and I must also agree with Skybird's post about the architecture. Germany still tops off all other countries in landscapes, though.

[Schroeder]

But you are aware that we aren't using the first paragraph of the "Deutschlandlied" anymore?

[Tchocky]

US embassy in Dublin is fairly nasty, but most embassies are.
Example - the UK embassy in Berlin - what is it?

Counter-Example - the Russian embassy on Unter den Linden