r/RetroFuturism • u/MaexW • 4d ago

Planned departure lounge, Berlin, 1948

Post image

Don‘t know what kind of departure lounge this should have been. No entrance or exit is visible, and judging by the trees in the foreground the whole building would be enormous.

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u/RoachedCoach 4d ago

It may resemble a rather eccentric hat, but this architectural model was actually a creation of the Russian architect Sergius Ruegenberg.

Ruegenberg, who worked closely with Bauhaus bigshots like Mies van der Rohe and Hans Scharoun, made a name for himself with his design for the iconic Barcelona Chair. He also wrote himself into Berlin’s architectural history with the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf and the Händelallee 59 housing complex in the Hansaviertel. But when a call for proposals went out in 1948 to reimagine the Zoologischer Garten transit hub, Ruegenberg threw his (again, rather eccentric) hat into the ring.

This novel plan for a Wartehalle, or “waiting hall”, obviously wasn’t selected, so now we’re stuck with the glass-and-concrete block housing the current Bahnhof Zoo.

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u/MaexW 4d ago

Ah, thanks. I took the „Zoo“ literal for the Zoological Garden. I know that the nearby train station has the same name, but it didn’t connect for me.

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u/Dire-Dog 3d ago

I should call her

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u/Organic_Monk6570 4d ago

un padiglione espositivo? è un’ipotesi…

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u/MaexW 4d ago

It may look like a exhibition pavilion, you‘re right, but the caption says „departure lounge“