‘No’ for Tempelhof
Tempelhof, Berlin (Photographer: makoekis/Flickr) (click-2-enlarge)
“The model of all contemporary airports”, Norman Foster once called Tempelhof. Despite its monumental status, it has been decided that the airport will be closed this fall. In their first referendum ever, Berlin last week voted in favor of the continuation of Tempelhof as an airport. However, because of the low turnout at the occasion the predefined threshold of 25 percent of the Berlin population wasn’t reached. So the airport closes anyhow.
The arguments for closure are that Tempelhof is located in the middle of the city and that discontinuation would support the development of the other Berlin airport, Schönfeld. But all more important is the fact that the city of Berlin is in great debt and needs to get rid of this costly airport.
Those who want to keep Tempelhof stress its emotional value: after World War II for half a decade Tempelhof was the only gateway to West Berlin, as the Soviets had completely surrounded this part of the city. Especially the older generation from the old West Berlin cherishes this sentiment, the newspapers report.
This building is a bird’s nest
‘Icons’ (Copyright Lesley Moore / Mark magazine) (click-2-enlarge)
In response to the interview I did with Willem-Jan Neutelings, Mark magazine asked me to write an essay on iconography and how it is (or actually isn’t) related to the icon. The article is published in the current issue of Mark.