Going Underground

Just imagine: after a long day you doze off in U-Bahn Line 5 and wake up from a ringtone which reminds you of Mozart’s Magic Flute. This would probably be the case in Tokyo, where every U-Bahn station is recognized by its own ringtone. In Berlin‘s new station „Museumsinsel“ there is a visual allusion to music. The strong blue ceiling reminds us of Mozart‘s Magic Flute, of the stage design with the well-arranged stars used often by the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

During our walking tour on February 16th we took a closer look at four Berlin U-Bahn stations and talked about the treacherous Berlin terrain. Sand, islands of peat and erratic boulders demand a construction technique by which ready-made concrete tubes are being pushed through the sand by gigantic drilling machines.

Five architecture firms designed the new U 5 stations; the inspirations become obvious: the „Rotes Rathaus“ station reminds us of the mushroom-shaped columns at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax headquarters in Wisconsin; „Museumsinsel“ refers to the great Berlin architect K. F. Schinkel. A specialty of the „Bundestag“ station designed by Axel Schultes are the natural sources of light. The supporting columns are covered by round glass plates which allow daylight underground.

Our last stop was one of Berlin’s oldest U-Bahn stations, „Wittenbergplatz“, a design by the Swedish-stemming architect Alfred Grenander. At one platform you may find a sign with the logo of the London Underground, a reminder of the times when the Berlin Wall divided the city and Wittenbergplatz was in the British sector.

Thank you, Ulf Meier, for an exciting architecture walk.