Niloufar Tajeri

Fremdkörper, Kiezgestein, Protzbau, Prachtbau… Architecture in the disputes surrounding Berlin’s Hermannplatz

The dissertation project examines the urban political conflicts surrounding the plans of a real estate company to demolish the existing Karstadt building on Hermannplatz in Berlin-Neukölln and construct a new building complex on the same site. The main building of the planned complex – a project development by the Signa real estate group – is based on the cubature and appearance of a historical building, namely the Karstadt building by Philipp Schaefer, which stood on the same site from 1929 to 1945. Sometimes referred to by supporters as „Kiezgestein“ (neighbourhood rock) or „Prachtbau“ (magnificent building), by opponents as „Fremdkörper“ (foreign body), or „Protzbau“ (ostentatious building), the plans have contributed to existing socio-spatial conflicts about gentrification, racism, climate justice and participation, but have also raised a new dimension to these conflicts: that of architecture and thus questions of aesthetics, representation, belonging and its cultural systems and structures of meaning. Hermannplatz can be understood as a field of conflict given its use for political practices from protests to planning processes. Therefore, this work analyzes the role of architecture within this field of conflict. In particular, the nexus between neoliberal urban development, architecture and social discourse is discussed using this example. The aim is to understand how the extended architectural field, i.e. not only the built space but also the design of temporary situations and communication processes (Hauser et al, 2011), contributes to the structural inequality and conflict caused by neoliberal urban development.

The analytical consideration of the discursive, visual and architectural-historical levels on which the project was publicly negotiated and the examination of the creative process of change in the architectural designs during the conflict should help to shed light on the following thesis: The planned architectural replica culturalizes the speculative logic of the real estate corporation and urban development policy, because through its systems of reference and meaning it constructs cultural affiliations or exclusions that aesthetically normalize/naturalize existing systems of spatial and social inequality. Through the construction of a cultural framework, historical references and cultural references to the Schaefer building and its former surroundings are linked to cultural codes and everyday practices of the present and exert considerable influence on media reception and political planning decisions. What form of heritage construction emerges within this framework, how and for what purpose is it linked to everyday practices and identity constructions of the present and what is the significance of architectural style?

In order to examine the conflict, it is also necessary to look at the existing department store and Hermannplatz: The political unfolds in the conflict over the location. The second thesis is that the building and Hermannplatz carry within them an element of resistance that draws from the social and political spatial practices that the work seeks to examine and describe. What characteristics does the department store building develop as factor in the conflict and how what role does Hermannplatz play?

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Edited Volumes

Nights of the Dispossessed. Riots Unbound Co-edited with Natasha Ginwala und Gal Kirn, Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, New York, 2021.

Gemeinwohl entwickeln: Kooperativ und Langfristig! Co-authored with coop.disco, Stadtentwicklungsamt Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (ed.), Berlin, 2018.

Small Interventions. New Ways of Living in Post-War Modernis Co-edited with Walter Nägeli, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2016.

Kabul – Secure City, Public City  Co-edited with Archis Foundation, Volume Magazine, Amsterdam, 2008.

Articles

“And We Do Not Inhabit Single-Issue Spaces. Why we need intersectional knowledge production and a culture of memory in architecture“. In: Melissa Makele et al (ed.): Contemporary Feminist Spatial Practices, Berlin, 2023.

„Wir brauchen das Andershaus“, in: BauNetz Campus: Transformation (Kauf)haus. Umnutzung monofunktionaler, konsumorientierter Strukturen, 26. Mai 2023, online: https://www.baunetz-campus.de/focus/transformation-kauf-haus-8247092#artikel-3

„Die räumliche Konstruktion eines rassifizierten Feindbildes: Wie mit der Debatte um die «Clankriminalität» (Verdrängungs)-Politik gemacht wird“. With Jorinde Schulz. In: Mohammed Ali Chahrour, Levi Sauer, Lina Schmid, Jorinde Schulz, Michèle Winker (Hg): Generalverdacht. Wie mit dem Mythos Clankriminalität Politik gemacht wird, Hamburg, 2023.

“And We Do Not Inhabit Single-Issue Spaces. Warum wir eine intersektionale Wissensproduktion und Erinnerungskultur in der Architektur brauchen“. In: ARCH+, Zeitgenössische feministische Raumpraxis, 246, Berlin, 2023.

„Brutality of Poetry. A Reconsideration of the Critical Discourse about the Succes and Failure of Werner Düttmann’s Social Housing” und Misserfolg des sozialen Wohnungsbaus Düttmanns“. In: Werner Düttmann. Berlin.Bau.Werk. Lisa Marei Schmidt und Kerstin Wittmann-Englert (ed.). Wasmuth &Zohlen Verlag, Berlin, 2021. 

“Built to Be Torn Down, Fed to Be Starved, Resurrected to Be Disposed Of: Capitalism Is a Riot, a Riot from Above“. Co-authored with Gal Kirn. In: Nights of the Dispossessed. Riots Unbound. Natasha Ginwala, Gal Kirn, Niloufar Tajeri (ed.). Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, New York, 2021.

„Architektur als ideologische Dienstleistung. Eine Projektentwicklung der besonderen Art am Hermannplatz“. In: ARCH+, Berlin Theorie, 241, Berlin, 2020.

“(K)ein Platz für alle? Wie in Berlin-Neukölln nicht-erwünschte Bewohner*innen durch politische Bevormundung und machtvolle Interessen systematisch verdrängt werden”. In: Commún, 4, Bochum, 2020. 

„Eine Projektentwicklung der besonderen Art“. In: Marlowes, 2020. Online: https://www.marlowes.de/eine-projektentwicklung-der-besonderen-art/

“The Gecekodu Protest Hut of Kotti&Co. A Space for Housing Rights in Berlin”. In: The Funambulist, 22, Paris, 2019. Online: https://kottiundco.net/2019/06/02/english-the-gecekondu-protest-hut-of-kotti-co-a-space-for-housing-rights-in-berlin/

„Almost invisible. How Post-War Residential Buildings are Renovated is Decisive“. In: Living the Region. Christian Holl, Felix Nowak, Peter Cachola Schmal, Kai Vöckler (ed.). Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen/Berlin, 2018.

„Subtraction. Instances of Commoning in Housing Estates“. In: ARCH+, An Atlas of Commoning. Places of Collective Production, 232, Berlin, 2018.

„Small Interventions and the Housing Question“. In: Small Interventions. New Ways of Living in Post-War Modernism. Walter Nägeli, Niloufar Tajeri (ed.). Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2016.

„Transformed Modernism, collective Modernism. The Shift from Space-OrientedDesign to Political Design Methods in Dealing with Existing Housing Stock“. In: Small Interventions. New Ways of Living in Post-War Modernism. Walter Nägeli, Niloufar Tajeri (ed.). Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2016.

Lectures

“Architectural knowledge and the avoidance of the racial: A case in Berlin-Neukölln”. Lecture on the annual conference “All stories at least are not the same: dis:connectivities in global knowledge production”, Käte Hamburger Research Center global dis:connect, Munich, 2023.

“Identität und Erbe am Hermannplatz. Architektur zwischen Essentialisierung und Widerstand”, Presentation on the conference “Relikte und Resonanzen. Konferenz gegen identitäre Erinnerungsarchitektur”, Klosterruine Berlin und “Rechte Räume”, Berlin, 2023.

“Surplus heritage in crisis? The continuity of crisis and its aesthetic regimes in Berlin”. Presentation on the panel “Heritage in times of multiple crises”, Austrian Sociological Association, congress, Vienna, 2023.

“Fassadenkopie Kiezutopie. Verteidigung und Aneignung am Hermannplatz”. Lecture in the framework of the series “Protest und Stadt: Ästhetisch-politische Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum”, Universität der Künste Berlin, 2023.

“And we do not inhabit single-issue spaces. On intersectionality and spatial practice”. Presentation in the series “Equity at Bauhaus”, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, 2023.

„The Gradual Production of Nonexistence: A Case Study of Karstadt, Hermannplatz in Berlin“ With Defne Kadioğlu. V Midterm Conference of the European Sociological Association Research Network 37: Urban Sociology, “Seeing Like a City/Seeing the City Through”, Session 16.1: „Margins, Displacement, and struggles in the Urban Arena“. Georg Simmel Center for Metropolitan Research, Humboldt University Berlin, 2022. 

„Wessen Erbe, wessen Identität, wessen Architektur? Oder die notwendige Verkomplizierung von Geschichte, Kultur und Form“ Ringvorlesung DFG-Graduiertenkolleg 2227 “Identität und Erbe”, FH Erfurt, 2022.

„Kleine Eingriffe für ein Wohnen in der Postwachstumsstadt“ Im Rahmen des Veranstaltungsprogramms der Ausstellung “wohnen³ – bezahlbar, besser, bauen”, b.zb Bremer Zentrum für Baukultur, 2021.

„(K)Ein Platz für alle. Der stadtpolitische Konflikt am Hermannplatz“ Input im Rahmen der Konferenz „Place International – 73 Tage der Commune oder der lange Wellenschlag der Revolution“, Forum Freies Theater Düsseldorf, 2021.

„Das Benko Prinzip“ Mit Diana Lucas-DroganGeomedia 2021, Konferenz „Off the Grid“, Session T3S2: „The City is not a Grid?!“ Universität Siegen, 2021.

“Please Update ‘Gestaltung’ to the Latest Version. Zu Transformationskompetenzen und Resilienzen in Architektur und Stadt“ Berufungsvortrag mit Tobias Hoenig (co/now), TU Wien, 2020.

„Koproduktion. (Ver)Lernen von (etablierten) Prozessen und Arbeitsmethoden“ Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Entwerfen und Wohnungsbau, 2018.

„Remembering Riots. Monuments and Archives of Dissent“ Mit Gal Kirn. WWU Münster, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, 2018.

“A renewed Attitude towards Restructuring Post-War Modernist Housing Estates” KTH School of Architecture, Stockholm, 2017.

Exhibitions

All that is Solid Installation and exhibition as part of the seminar “1972 (or thereabouts)” at TU Braunschweig, 2018. The seminar focused on Pruitt-Igoe public housing development in St. Louis, Illinois, and critically dissected public housing myths. In collaboration with Folke Köbberling (Institut für architekturbezogene Kunst, TU Braunschweig).

Thinking a Monument to the Sub/Urban Riot Travelling exhibition, Academy Schloss Solitude Stuttgart, Museum of Contemporary Art Ljubljana, Pixxelpoint Festival, 2016. With Gal Kirn.