Exquisite Function
While the Hansa district today stands as an architectural monument near the Berlin Tiergarten, at the time of Interbau 57, it was a model for what “the city of tomorrow“ could be, or should have been. From the individual buildings designed by world-renown architects to the functional structure of the urban landscape to the presentation of fully-furnished model apartments; everything stood as a sign for a new shaping of residential and living styles, intending to lend West-German post-war society a fresh face. The emphasis on tomorrow is thus connected to the wiping out of the youngest, national socialistic yesterday.
What is no longer to be seen with a mere glance at the facades and park areas, is the vehemence of the aesthetic instructions from the 1950´s which were conveyed to a wide public. Modern urban planning and design were intended to have an effect on all things – on family and community ideals, as well as on ideas of order and purity.
Starting points for Dorit Margreiter´s investigation of the Hansaviertel were the special exhibition "the city of tomorrow" ("die stadt von morgen") as well as the furnished model homes of the Interbau 57. In a filmstudio Margreiter set up various interiors of living spaces that could function as either past or current options for living in the Hansaviertel. Accompanied by a film script, the montage of diverse voices forms a ficticious narrative that moves through an abstract timeline.
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