The Smell of the GDR

A huge white wall decorated with rows upon rows of windows and white balconies looms up behind Zoe Schlepfer, who sits on her balcony with a laptop.

What looks like wallpaper is in fact the façade of a high-rise apartment block, only a stone's throw from Zoe's apartment. Despite her towering neighbour however, Zoe still has a brilliant view of Berlin with its famous television tower and lots of blue sky above her.

Zoe and Ulli Uphaus live on the 15th floor of a former GDR high-rise apartment block on Leipziger Street, a wide road in the city centre connecting Potsdamer Platz and Alexander Platz.

"It was the high-rise building itself that attracted me", Uli says, and not the fact that the apartment he decided to move into is a so-called "Plattenbau", an apartment block once typical of the former GDR era.

However, it is hard to ignore that these buildings are becoming increasingly popular with Berlin's young and creative generation, filling these grey towers with a new energy, after a decade of slow and painful decline

The "Plattenbau" in Berlin is still a reminder of East German socialism in a once divided city.

After the Second World War both halves of the divided city struggled with the issue of housing. By the mid 50s, the GDR had developed an especially effective way of construction, fitting prefabricated pieces of concrete together to form the so-called "Platten-bau", or "concrete slab-building".

The industrially prefabricated "Plattenbau" became the physical symbol of a socialist way of life. During the 60s whole quarters with old houses were demolished and replaced by modern buildings in the new style.

Today, living in a high-rise, concrete apartment building is proving an attraction to young Berliners who cherish the view and a sense of freedom, so high up above the busy Berlin streets.

Zoe says she thought about moving to a high-rise building before she came from Zürich to Berlin. "Zürich is such a small town, it only has about three high buildings."

Berlin, however, has around 280 000 apartments in high-rise "Plattenbau" buildings. Apart from those in the city centre, most of them are situated in the eastern districts of Berlin.

Zoe does not really like to be labeled hip, but she does find it hip to live so high above everything else. "The dimension of a city can only be grasped from above", neighbour Marcus Metzler says. He has been living on Leipziger Street for several years now. No matter in which city he is, he would always stay at a place where he can see all of its surroundings.

"I feel most urbane when I am on the pavement with high concrete walls, lots of people, cars and noise around me", roommate and landscape architect Frank Peter Thomas adds.

Their fascination for high places soon led to the idea of a special tourist project. Frank and Markus want to establish a cooperation between people living in the world cities. Anyone with an apartment in the centre of town which offers an excellent view, can participate. The project would form a network on the internet, where one can contact the inhabitants and, possibly stay in their homes.

Frank and Marcus Metzler's home has a lot to offer in the way of looks: They got rid of anything that could feel cosy: No wallpapers on the walls, only bare concrete. The flat is almost completely furnished with trendy 70s retro-chic furniture.

Both Frank and Markus would not buy a new coffee-machine, unless it suited their apartment's style. At current, their apartment looks more like a museum showing an exhibition of old GDR items.

For Frank, the aesthetics of different periods in history are especially fascinating: His interest in the former GDR lies mostly in his fascination with its particular style. For someone coming from the western part of Germany he doesn't know much about the GDR, but his interest in the era is also reflected in the building where he decided to open an office.

Living in a ministry

For Frank it was hip to have an office in the so-called "Haus des Lehrers" (House of the Teacher), the former GDR ministry of education. This impressive building is situated on the northern side of the Alexanderplatz, and was one of the first high-rise buildings to be erected by the GDR government in Berlin.

Here, teachers were taught the right teaching "methods". When the wall came down, the building lost this function. One by one, the tenants left, and by 1998 all 12 stories of it stood empty.

In 1999, lights flickered behind dark windows once again and life returned to this historic house. Its new residents all belonged to the more creative scene in Berlin: Architects, designers, composers and young people working in the internet branch. They painted the grey walls, ripped out the old brown carpets and began organising regular exhibitions and parties in a large room on the 7th floor.

The rent here was surprisingly cheap: To be able to have one's own office right in the centre of town at an affordable price is something only to be had in Berlin.

However, by the end of the sommer, the young creative people working in the "Haus des Lehrers" had to leave. The house had been up for sale for several years, and finally an investor was found who was prepared to take over the extensive, but necessary renovation, including the outside wall fresco made up of thousands of red, blue and yellow mosaic stones which decorates its otherwise grey façade. The fresco, designed by former GDR state artist Walter Womacker shows scenes of a happy, socialist world.

It is not only the appearance of these GDR-buildings, but also the fascination for the stories behind them that attract young people in Berlin to live and work here. It is the inspiring quality of former GDR architecture which is important - and not the ideology that these buildings once represented.

Frank Peter Thomas didn' t mind leaving the "Haus des Lehrers" too much. In fact he was looking forward to moving to the former "Neues Deutschland"-building, home of the socialist newspaper "Neues Deutschland" (New Germany) in Berlin. Here, Frank says, "one can still smell the GDR."