Architect Ulf Meier took us to discover City West and Kulturforum with its exciting architecture of the 20th and 21st century during the tour on 14 March 2023. At the eastern end of Kantstraße, two skyscrapers form a city gate image and guide our eyes to the Zoofenster Tower. From the skyscraper‘s roof terrace, we enjoyed a fantastic panorama of the Berliner skyline outlining the glass dome of the Reichstag parliament building and the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz that reminds us of the snow-covered Fujiyama mountain.

We went further to Kulturforum by bus to admire the New National Gallery which is the icon of the post-war architecture designed by the famous Bauhaus Architect, Mies van der Rohe, and was recently renovated by David Chipperfield. The gallery was a West-Berlin response to the loss of the Museum Island in the east of the city. Ulf Meier explained the evolutionary history of the building and the personality of the architect. From the terrace of the New National Gallery, our gaze wandered through the area between the Gemäldegalerie, the Philharmonie, a large construction site all the way to St. Matthew’s church. Once the new building is constructed, would it be possible to optically relate it with the diverse architecture styles around the Kulturforum? Would these buildings architecturally blend in a harmonious ensemble? Intriguing questions for the discussion during the coffee break.