My Welcome and First Assignment

Although we are a week into our time here in Berlin, this is my first blog post. It has been a very busy and eventful week here. The culture is great and the architecture is even better. We have been traveling all over Berlin, seeing some great buildings and enjoying the German culture and the food of course. We have even extended our travels now to Dessau to view the Bauhaus, which we will be posting about soon. 

My first assignment is to write about the Academy of Art here in Berlin located in Pariser Platz, very close to the Brandenburg Gate. The area is spectacular; there are many museums nearby, as well as the DZ bank designed by Frank Gehry which is next door. The US and French embassies are nearby as well, and of course a Starbucks is across the street. We can't get away from them. 

The history of the Academy of the Arts started in 1696 when it was established by Friedrich III as the Prussian Academy of Arts. Around 1945 the Academy of Arts headquarters was destroyed, and while there were many intermediate steps and buildings the building I am reviewing was built in 2005 by architect Gunter Behnisch. The main tasks of the Academy of the Art are representation of Germany in the fields of art and culture, promotion of art, to advocate arts within society, to advance national cultural developments, preservation of the national cultural heritage, and advice to the Federal Republic of Germany in terms of arts and culture (Cite)  

                                                     

The facade of the building is all glass, which in Berlin, is nothing extraordinary. One is not overwhelmed by the architecture until walking up the stairs and looking up at the confusion of stairways and different areas for different uses. There is a great use of mirrors and glass, so as one looks up the different areas and walls are not very distinct and begin to get lost and blend into each other. The rest of the building was not as impressive, but there was a nice path on the second floor leading to the back of the building that acted as a balcony so one could overlook exhibits that would be shown on the first floor. Overall, I enjoyed experiencing this building and would love to start seeing interiors like this in the US.