Mauerpark Berlin – On the journey from death to life

“The greatest design challenge is the creation of an empty space.” This quote from Gustav Lange forms the basis for understanding one of his most prominent projects, Berlin’s Mauerpark. More than almost any other, Mauerpark reflects the design philosophy and attitude of its creator. It was the pursuit of emptiness, in-between space and chance that was repeatedly evident in Lange’s plans. Lange was involved in the realization of the last construction phase, which opened in 2020, until the very end. Gustav Lange died on March 7, 2022 in his adopted home of Schleswig – Holstein. Reason enough to pay tribute to Mauerpark as a complete work.

From border space to open space

For Lange, it was fundamental to preserve the openness of the former “death strip” within the polished border fortifications of the Berlin Wall in his design planning. At the interface between the two former political systems, a clearing was to be preserved in the city. On the path “from border space to open space”, a place to live and let live was to be created. The transformation of a negatively connoted open space into a positively connoted public park was the central question. The visitors played a key role in Lange’s design for this processual transformation. The planning merely provided the framework for the aesthetic superstructure and the material stage. At this point, people can unfold in order to rearticulate and reinterpret the historical site.

The Mauerpark from north to south

The contaminated sandy area of the former “death strip” was removed, replaced by topsoil and thus became the fertile basis for an extensive “carpet of grass”. The historic paving of “Schwedter Straße” was uncovered and turned into the central park axis from north to south. At the entrance to Eberswalder Straße, a grove of trembling poplars welcomes you with its whispering leaves in the light: “Come in!” At the other end, a birch grove catches the wind and evokes distant Siberian expanses. In between – an empty field and lots of sky. In the distance, you can even make out the Berlin television tower on the Alex.

The east side of the park – a ten-metre-high slope of rubble from the Great War. Wild sage blooms here under wild apples. At the top is the Hinterlandmauer, which quickly became a constantly changing graffiti gallery. Five large swings are waiting there, inviting you to fly into the Berlin evening sun. Further north, an amphitheater is embedded in the slope. Music plays in the shade of the columnar oaks and poplars – and not just for Sunday karaoke. No other place in the park makes a stronger commitment to openness and tolerance – a meeting place for cultures and generations.

“Nature creates compositions that no human being could ever create”

Along Schwedter Strasse, there are also clearly arranged small squares in basic geometric shapes. They overlap the street space as tilted rectangles. The circular stage of the amphitheater even cuts through the curb of Schwedter Straße and is embraced by the larger arches of the seating steps. Roughly split granite blocks provide the setting. In the large gaps between the blocks, there is still room for wildly roaming plants. Lange said that “nature creates compositions that no human being could ever create”.

Competition for Mauerpark

The origins of Mauerpark date back to the period immediately after the fall of the Wall. The same excavators that were used on Bernauer Strasse and Eberswalder Strasse after the exchange of territories in 1988 removed the straight Wall elements on November 10, 1989. The Wall was then dismantled from June 1990. The raked strip of sand between Prenzlauer Berg and Wedding served as a place for encounters between East and West and for spontaneous activities.

Under public pressure to secure the areas as public open spaces in the future, the Berlin Senate launched a “Sportstadt Berlin” competition in early 1992 as part of the 2000 Olympic bid. This included the Mauerpark and the future Max-Schmeling-Halle next to the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. The landscape architect Gustav Lange, who worked in Hamburg, won the landscape planning part of the competition in collaboration with the architectural firm Schweger und Partner. Construction work on the eastern, seven-hectare section began in 1993 with co-financing from the Allianz Environmental Foundation. The first construction phase was opened in the fall of 1994.

Mauerpark – old and new

It took a long time before the planning measures for the western, eight-hectare section of Mauerpark were finally tackled. Without the civic commitment and influence exerted on politics and administration in the years since 2003, the completion of the park would not have been realized. The decisive political decision in 2009 cleared the way for the land to be handed over to the owners. Otherwise, high-quality apartments would have been built here at the expense of the neighborhood-connecting park. From 2012 to 2016, Lange actively participated in the citizens’ workshop “Completing Mauerpark”. In dialog with the participants, he adapted his already historic design from 1993. The users’ demands on a public space, the development of the established park and the influence of the municipal institutions were a challenge.

Line of unequal things

The site was partly an industrial wasteland, but was also characterized by interim uses worthy of preservation. These included the intercultural communal areas of the Mauergärten in the northern part of the park, the beer gardens on Eberswalder Strasse and the weekly flea market. Areas for children’s play were also planned and a future cultural center at the small industrial building “Kartoffelhalle” was included. Overall, the expansion of the park was intended as a counterpoint to the busy eastern section and to provide additional space for quieter uses. This was also due to the directly adjacent residential development.

During underground construction work on the reservoir canal on Eberswalder Straße, artifacts from the Berlin Wall and an escape tunnel were also found. In winter 2017/2018, the entrance area on Eberswalder Straße was therefore also redesigned and became part of the “Berlin Wall Memorial”. The existing route of the section of the Wall from 1961 to 1989 was marked in the park at the intersection of the “old” and “new” park, the “Line of Unequal Things” as Lange called it. The Berlin office BBS was commissioned with the implementation planning and construction supervision, while Gustav Lange continued to be responsible for the artistic direction.

A park for everyone

In the extension section of Mauerpark, Lange’s formal design language continues in a somewhat more discreet manner. The neighborhood meeting point at the stone circle has an exceptional position here. Under a grove of Brandenburg pines and wild cherries, children’s birthday parties are often held spontaneously. The circle, bordered by a double-sided granite bench, marks the crossroads between Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg. The meadow squares further north with their small play areas have become a popular meeting place for local yoga classes in the relaxed shade of the birch trees. The wall gardeners have also found their place here. Overall, the new part of the park has a smaller-scale feel, which is not just a result of the diversified planning culture. It is a careful blend of traces of the former goods station with track remains and large stone paving patchwork and robust ruderal shrubs.

The four-row plane tree promenade naturally incorporates the 30- to 40-year-old, crooked maple trees. The avenue creates a connection from the entrance on Bernauer Straße to the “Kartoffelhalle” and touches the multifunctional, asphalted area of the flea market. There you can play basketball or rollerblade under the wide grid of sophores. The playground was developed in collaboration with children, but was planned by someone else. Enclosed by a functional fence and equipped with gleaming stainless steel equipment, they radiate a completely different character. “Freedom against a vision of order – abolish design”, postulated journalist Niklas Maak, criticizing the fact that freedom with things and spaces is increasingly becoming an exception in the design of cities.

Close to the zeitgeist

Gustav Lange, on the other hand, pursued a design philosophy that enabled process-oriented openness within a formative and legible framework. This can also be seen at the detailed level in Mauerpark. Rough joints, flexible gaps, rough granite blocks, in places the impression of the unfinished spreads. The park’s lack of maintenance over the years sometimes reinforces this impression. However, it is an expression of changing moments and motivation for self-determined, spontaneous action and changing activities close to the spirit of the times. In a certain sense, Lange and Mauerpark embody a lively, pleasurable clash between the formal and the accidental.

Restoration of the Mauerpark

Now that the final construction phase has been completed, the city is concentrating on restoring the “old” Mauerpark. The catalog of measures has been discussed in a wider public and is not limited to replanting all the trees originally planned, repairing the swings that have been broken for some time or making the slope accessible for the disabled according to current guidelines. This should also apply to the craftsmanship of the stonework, which Lange, as a trained stonemason, has always demanded and which was not always fulfilled in the extension section.

The balance between the executed original design from 1993 and the transformations by people and plants in the park call for an evaluation and legibility of the individual layers of meaning and an attitude in the spirit of the author of the design, Gustav Lange. It is to be hoped that a sense of proportion will be applied here and that the free spirit and openness of the site will not be sacrificed to an inadequate perfectionism. Author David Wagner in his declaration of love for the park: “Oh Mauerpark, I love your meadow, which now, in late summer, is no longer a meadow at all, an English lawn looks different. Mauerpark, you are a little steppe, a piece of Berlin prairie, looks as if herds of buffalo have trampled over you.”

Under the umbrella of a formal and clearly legible design framework, breaks, gaps and spaces were needed for the spontaneous, the processual – be it vegetation or human appropriation.

I would like to thank Susanne Brehm, Jan Gustav Fiedler and Bernd Krüger for their suggestions and critical review.

References:

Niklas Maak, “Freiheit gegen Ordnungsvision: Schafft das Design ab!”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 07.01.2020, https://headtopics.com/de/freiheit-gegen-ordnungsvision-schafft-das-design-ab-10543421

David Wagner, “Woodstock every week. Crows, children, stoners and of course karaoke: A declaration of love to Mauerpark.”, Der Tagesspiegel, 01.09.2012, https://www.tagesspiegel.de/themen/umziehen-nach-berlin/mauerpark-jede-woche-woodstock/7083406.html

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