Despite their difficult history, WWII and Cold War bunkers in some German cities are becoming desirable real estate for apartment living and working. Read
this story via Reuters in the National Post.
I love to see the concept of adaptive reuse realized and hope to see more and more of it. And, although there is some controversy over converting these bunkers, I think it is a much better way to honor the prisoners who toiled and died in their construction than tearing them down or maintaining them as depressing memorials requiring expensive upkeep.
There are some 2000 bunkers remaining in Germany, and many are in the centers of cities, making them perfect for conversion to living, gallery and work spaces.
If you read German,
here is more information on the architect who first seized on the idea and opportunity with his own living space conversion. – GF
These two caught my eye because they were one after the other on Tréndir and they couldn't be more different. I am partial to areas enclosed by walls but open to the sky and as well to skylights – each of these houses has one of these as a main element, yet one is built hovering above the ground while the other burrows into it, like an auger into wood.
"The Corbusier hotel opens its doors onto one man’s utopia become reality: the Radiant City of Marseille by Corbusier, a vessel of colours, a perfect parallelepiped perched on its strange pillars. Neither the facades nor the roof covered with the most unusual works of art have been left to chance, everything is the fruit of the 30-year long imaginative creation of a man passionately interested in architecture, art and humanity. The property, listed as a historical building, is the archetype of a town. The apartments have been designed to look like villas, the corridors like streets and a central thoroughfare goes through the heart of the third level where the Hotel and winter garden can also be found. The miniature town has its own mini-swimming pool, open-air theatre, vast gymnasium, tennis court and a cinema."
It would be fun to hunt down and decipher the pictograms on plinths and surfaces, some worn enough to resemble ancient hieroglyphs. Check out google images for more photos – GF
