We arrived in Berlin on Friday April 6, 2018 and set out straight away to visit the Neues Museum, renovated in 2011 by David Chipperfield Architects.

On Saturday morning we rented bikes to get the most out of our day. We cycled to the Jewish Museum (2001) designed by Daniel Libeskind, the Topography of Terror Museum designed by Peter Zumthor, Walter Gropius’s Bauhaus-Archiv (1960), the Philharmonie Berlin (1963) by Hans Scharoun, Potsdamer Platz and the Renzo Piano master plan for the area, Marlene Dietrich Platz.

We also had the chance to see several construction sites: the Neue Nationalgalerie new wing designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the Bauhaus-Archiv new tower designed by Staab Architekten, the Cube Berlin created by 3XN Copenhagen, the Berliner Schloss – Humboldt Forum by Franco Stella, and David Chipperfield’s James Simon Gallery designed.

 

On Sunday we had free time to explore the city on our own. We then met at the Brandenburg Gate to visit the Reichstag dome designed by Norman Foster. When we finished our audio guide we took a walking tour to the Parliament Quarter and to the new Government buildings by Frank and Schulte. We also visited the Netherlands Embassy designed (2003) by Rem Koolhaas.

On our final day, we walked over to the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall and then had free time to explore more of the city.

Hayley Wilkinson (RWU Architecture)