de.Void – (In) Between Void of Articulation and Void by Destruction

de.Void – (In) Between Void of Articulation and Void by Destruction

Berlin is a fragmented city to the eyes of many, even up to now almost 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The invisible line running across the city has never disappeared in the memory of Berliners and tourists, despite the demolition of most part of the Wall and commencement of large scale developments to fill the voids. If the invisible line and associated voids can never be erased from our mind psychologically regardless of any efforts to remove them physically, why not we turn the then death strip (void left by destruction) to a physical void which is constructed out of architectural articulation (void of articulation)?

The thesis tries to explore the alternative meaning of edge and void in contemporary Berlin. The proposal is to convert portions of the then Death Strip into a physical void cutting down into the ground, reminiscing people’s psychological idea of ‘void’. The invisible line no longer exists mentally in the minds of people. It reappears on map again by reinventing its form from the former Wall of Horror standing above ground to a partially underground strip of void for both memory and aspiration.

The proposal positions itself in various ambiguity. By materialization of the ‘void’ constituting different levels, the space created lies at a place in between East and West (former divided ideologies),underground and aboveground (former reunified utopia constructed by U-Bahn underground and the hostile world aboveground). With the subterranean ‘void’ as monument and programs ‘filling-in’ along it as social space e.g. library, the linear Death Strip transforms into a hybrid public strip of complexity in hope of a democratic and diversified future, exploring ambiguity between nostalgia and optimism.