Berlin: Hohenzollerndamm Scharoun

1929 – 1931

Architects: Hans Scharoun, Georg Jacobowitz

Hohenzollerndamm 35-36, Mansfelder Strasse 29, Berlin, Germany

Hans Scharoun

The residential complex on Hohenzollerndamm in Berlin, Germany, was designed by Hans Scharoun and completed between 1929 and 1931.

Born in 1893 in Bremen, Scharoun spent his youth in Bremerhaven, where he was in daily contact with harbor operations, ships and shipbuilding.

From 1912 to 1914, he studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule Berlin-Charlottenburg.

During World War I, he was served as a military engineer in the reconstruction of destroyed cities in East Prussia.

Wroclaw

After the war, he stayed in Cechovce and then worked as a freelance architect in Wrocław.

In 1925 he received a professorship at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Breslau (Wrocław) through the mediation of Adolf Rading, which he held until 1932.

In 1929, he designed a hostel for the Werkbund exhibition “Apartment and Workroom” in Wroclaw:

“The big city demands various solutions to the housing problem, from single-family houses to hotels. Despite the small living space, the hotel rooms in the hostel were designed to have the independent effect of the smallest apartment. Thus, micro-apartments were created with a living area, sleeping area, and an additional room, all lit from two sides.” (Quote from Scharoun in the exhibition catalog Hans Scharoun, Academy of Arts, Berlin, 1967, p. 38).

Hohenzollerndamm Apartment Building

He took a similar approach when designing the residential complex on Hohenzollerndamm in Berlin. The complex was conceived as a housing facility for single people and young married couples.

Unlike the detached hostel in the Werkbund housing estate in Breslau, the Berlin apartment complex is integrated into the multi-story development of its urban surroundings.

The structure consists of two parallel wings (one facing the street and one facing the courtyard) offset from each other by half a story.

The diverse, elegant façade reveals both the small residential units and the multifunctionality of the complex.

Scharoun designed an organic connection between the two street-facing wings with balconies projecting semicircularly like hinges.

After completion, the smooth plaster was given a coat of white oil paint, lending the surface a delicate transparency.

Georg Jacobowitz

The client for the project was Georg Jacobowitz, an entrepreneur and architect whose company developed floor plans for 35- to 70-square-meter apartments.

Jacobowitz built apartment buildings and housing complexes in Berlin’s Tiergarten, Charlottenburg, and Treptow districts, among others. He emigrated to Palestine in 1933.

Apartments

The building contained small one- and two-room units, attic studios, and roof terraces. There were also garages in the courtyard, a full basement, store space, and a restaurant on the ground floor for the tenants’ use.

The residences, which had kitchens or kitchenettes and bathrooms, were designed to create the impression of concentrated representation and domestic organization in the smallest possible space.