Draft:Bikini-Berlin
Building complex in Berlin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bikini-Berlin complex is a building complex on Budapest street in the Charlottenburg locality of west Berlin.[1] Bikini Berlin includes the Bikini-Haus shopping centre (after which the entire complex is named), the Huthmacher House, the Zoo Palast, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a multi-storey car park, and the The 25 Hour Hotel (which is also known as the Little High Rise).[2][3]
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Bikini-Berlin is to the north of the Breitscheidplatz public square, which holds the Berlin Zoo, after which parts of the complex are named.
Etymology
When it was built in the 1950s, the Bikini-Haus shopping centre was divided into an upper and lower section, with a mostly empty open space on the second floor framed by collumns, reminding Berliners of a bare midriff.[2] As a result, the structure of the building was reminiscent of a bikini (in that there was "something up top, something down below, and nothing in the middle").[2][4] Later, the building was renovated to enclose the 2nd floor with floor to ceiling glass windows.[2]
History
The complex was first known as the Center at the Zoo (German: Zentrum am Zoo), and was constructed sometime prior to World War II. In 1925, Berlin would construct the Capitol am Zoo, a cinema designed by Hans Poelzig, between the Berlin Zoo and the Kaiser Wilhelm Church. On 23 November 1943, Capitol am Zoo and most of the buildings in the complex were destroyed by an allied bombing raid. By 1953, all of the complex that remained, some of which was still being used, was demolished.[5]
From 1956 to 1957, builders following plans from architects Paul Schwebes and Hans Schoszberger constructed the six story Bikini-Haus, in aid of Germany's postwar Wirtschaftswunder recovery policy.[5][6][7]
By the end of the 1960s, the Bikini-Haus contained more than 60 fashion companies who produced and sold clothing and textiles.[6]
During the 1960s, when the Bikini-Haus was most prosperous, it featured prominently in pro-western propaganda films, along with most of the city's west, as the wealthy contrast to poor East Berlin.[1] However, Bikini-Haus declined following the construction of the Berlin Wall, as it had lost it's East Berlin customer base. By the 1970s, West Berlin—especially the Breitscheidplatz and Zoo Station area—suffered economic decline.[1][8] As result of the prevalence of drug-addiction and prostitution, money fled from the area, and cinemas and theatres along the nearby Ku’damm street closed down.[8]
Furthermore, after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, most of the economic development was focused on the newly enveloped East Berlin. As a result, the struggling Breitscheidplatz and Zoo Station area was sidelined, and the decline of the Bikini-Berlin complex hastened.[8]
Renovation
In 2002, the complex was purchased by architectural firm Bayerische Hausbau. On 2 December 2010, Bayerische Hausbau began a renovation of the complex.[9]
As part of the renovation, 60 more cafes and restaurants moved into the Bikini-Haus, and Bayerische Hausbau built a 7,000-square-meter rooftop terrace on the top of Bikini-Haus, modeled after the High Line Park in New York.[2]
On 3 April 2014, the complex finished renovation and reopened. The opening was hosted by Ole Tillmann, and featured live music performed by Austrian band Bilderbuch.[10]
Gallery
25 hour Hotel
Shopping-Mall Bikini Berlin
Southern facade shortly after completion; the open “bikini floor” is clearly visible.
Southern facade before renovation
In front of the building is Breitscheidplatz and to the right is the Europa-Center.
Memorial plaque on Budapest Street
Bikini-Haus in the foreground, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on the left, Upper West in the middle, Zoofenster skyscraper on the right.
_Bikini_Berlin.jpg)
