Mackenzie Hammond

Layers of X-Berg

Layers of X-Berg is an investigation of the historic tragedies and consequential responses within the neighbourhood of Kreuzberg. Berlin’s past has resulted in layers of complex urban development. It is consuming to navigate, slipping through the city’s layered history reflected in its architecture. The hard surfaces are permeable, filled with courtyards and green spaces, allowing one to filter through the perimeter block structures. The resiliency of Berliners is apparent in their post-war re-discovery of the city. Post-reunification, the building scale shifted from small-scale infills to projects that aimed to reflect Berlin as Germany’s capital. Post-modernism was seen as too small scale and Modernism, Stalinism, and National Socialism all had a bad reputation. Creating the question, “What style do they build in, and at what scale?” The Bock Brewery site selected for this thesis is faced with an echoing question of, “How does one navigate a site with the immediate adjacency of a National Socialist building?” Erasing National Socialist buildings does not respect the past, and confronting these central inquiries results in a strong atmosphere of place. When designing a new intervention, how does one respect the history of the site while also supporting social integration? Layers of X-Berg will explore how architecture can contribute to the already vibrant neighbourhood of Kreuzberg while respecting the complex history of the selected site.