Berlin’s Funkhaus: A paradigm for the changing city
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hello and a very warm welcome to monocle on design extra. It's the show brought to you by the team behind Monocle 24 dedicated, weekly designed show. I'm Josh Bennett now. Each week we listen in on a notion of design, visit a notable building or speak to a personal practitioner that we think deserves just a little bit more attention. This week we head to Germany to visit a Berlin landmark which has been making a bit of a comeback in the past few years. Sitting on the banks of the river spree, the Funk House was built in 1951 as a radio broadcast centre for the German Democratic Republic, the eastern bloc that was ruled by a pro Soviet socialist regime. When the Berlin Wall fell and Germany reunited in 1989 the GDR radio stations started closing down, which meant the Funk House, in all its majestic mid century glory, drifted into disrepair. Fast forward nearly 30 years and the building has been taken over by new owners, ones who are determined to turn it back into a cultural hotspot. The ambitious restoration programme is updating the historic venue with progressive new plans while honouring its architectural roots, as reporter Frederick Bernas discovers back in the days of divided Germany, thousands of workers buzzed around the winding corners of the Funk House Broadcast Centre as around the clock radio hub. It produced news, drama and music shows, as well as concert recordings and a fair share of government propaganda. Yes, Republic. But today the likes of Depeche Mode and the Black Eyed Peas have performed or recorded here. It's clear that musicians from any era or style have all been attracted by the same thing. A tireless dedication to the art of acoustics, the pursuit of sonic purity. Mhm. This is our smaller recording hall. As you can see, it's quite tiny, of course not there. It's only tiny if you compared to the large one. That's Christian Block, who's been working at the funhouse for more than a decade. The special thing about all the studios here in the production complex is that they are all built in house and house construction. Imagine it like being a box in a box. There's one outside holes, and then they built eight in our houses, on on foundations and all the outside walls of The studios do not have a direct connection to the outside wall of the building, so by that it's completely acoustically isolated against the outside world. A plane could fly directly over the building inside the recording studios. You will not hear it. Yeah, through the eight floors. Here we were five floors which have this last floor that we just saw. And 678 is just the tower building. Christian knows the 50,000 square metre complex from top to bottom. He chose me around small, intimate studios and cavernous concert halls like the famous Sal ICTs, which boasts a towering church organ, a multilevel orchestra pit and beautiful wood panelled walls. It may well be the world's largest purpose built a recording studio twice the size of Abbey Road. When new owners acquired the Funk House in 2015, they were keen to make the most of existing facilities while exploring fresh ideas. At the same time, for example, the shed had a car park and workshop area has been transformed into a venue for 9000 people. A music production school was opened in blockade and other spaces were optimist to host all kinds of events, from technology conferences to fashion shows. In a way that rich variety of activities reflects the history of the funhouse. Its original architect, Franz Ehrlich, a student of the radical Bauhaus school, effectively built a mini city with services like a bank, a clinic, a hairdresser and a cinema for radio workers to use. After the Second World War, Ehrlich was assigned to design a new broadcast centre for East Germany whose government could no longer use the main funk house in the British sector of Berlin. It was a golden opportunity, but really had to compromise his progressive ideas in order to satisfy the authorities. When you look at the phone calls, what do you say? It is a typical powerhouse building, I think. No, it's too conservative. That's Johannes Zoellick, an architect who has been leading the funkiest renovation project. You have Brick Stone, you have a grid and the windows and things like that. I think it was Stalin who posed the architects to choose this kind of style. So they tried to find a mixture between modernism and traditional style, and you can see it in the phone calls and in the car McSally in this period. It changed after Italian Step. The purpose of a grand radio centre was unquestionably modern. But Ehrlich integrated conservative aesthetic details on doors, ornaments and railings with a simple, functional elegance staying true to his Bauhaus roots. For a long time, it seems like the Funk House would become a forgotten chapter in German history books. But today it's regaining recognition as an architectural masterpiece, wandering through the hallowed halls. There's a real air of mystery. You never know what could turn up around the next corner. In one of the studios, I meet a Mexican vocalist who's lived in Berlin since age three, and she is full of anecdotes. In my generation, The funk house has always been a creative place. As a teenager, I used to come to parties here. The old buildings have a mystical atmosphere. I heard a story that when they started making the studios at the music school, they discovered hidden spy microphones behind the walls. And I remember that 10 or 15 years ago, my mother said I shouldn't visit East Berlin because of racism, but that's changing now, and it's really beautiful. I feel proud to be working here after German unification In 1989 people gravitated towards the more prosperous west side of Berlin before the East came back onto the radar with its bubbling art scene. In that sense, the focus is a paradigm for a changing city, joining past and present to build a strong united creative community for the future. For monocle in Berlin, I'm Fredrick Bonus the Brave one open thanks to Frederick Bernas There for that report you've been listening to on design Extra from the team behind Monocle 24 dedicated, weekly designed show. You can listen to the full half hour show on Tuesdays at 1900 London time or download the podcast at any time you like and do remember if you can't wait. There are always more design delights to uncover in the pages of Monocle magazine. Today's show was produced by Christie Evans. I'm Josh Bennett. Thank you very much for listening. Goodbye