Natürlich können Sie ihren Garten von einem Landschaftsarchitekten planen und erstellen lassen. Dabei sparen sie zwar Energie, aber die Kosten sind für viele zu meist zu hoch. Wer den Umbau seines Gartens selbst in die Hand nehmen möchte, der hat meist auch die Möglichkeit zumindest die Planung in fachliche Hände zu geben und so einen professionell geplanten Garten günstiger zu bekommen.

Wenn sich auch um die Planung seines zukünftigen Gartenparadieses kümmern möchte, der sollte als erstes einen Grundriss seines Gartens zeichnen. Tragen Sie dort alles genau ein, dass jetzt schon in ihrem Garten einen Platz hat und auch zukünftig dort verbleiben sollte, wie zum Beispiel eine Terrasse, eine Laube oder einen Grillplatz.

Im Internet finden sich viele Vorlagen, von denen man Inspirationen nehmen kann. Bei der Planung kommt es natürlich immer auf die Größe ihres Grundstückes und ihren persönlichen Wünschen an.

Wer nutzt den Garten und wofür wird er im Speziellen genutzt? Für eine gemütliche Zeit sollten sie eine Terrasse und einen Grillplatz einplanen. Die Terrassenfläche sollte dabei allerdings nicht zu gering ausfallen, sonst haben Sie eventuell bei späteren Gartenpartys ein Platzproblem. Wenn Sie Kinder haben sollte ein Spielebereich nicht fehlen, planen Sie hierbei aber auch in die Zukunft. Die Kinder werden größer und haben dann nicht unbedingt den Bedarf einer großen Fläche zum Spielen, sondern wollen eventuell wie Sie gemütlich auf der Terrasse sitzen. Möchten Sie einen Fischteich oder vielleicht sogar einen Swimmingpool? Vor allem einen Swimmingpool sollten sie möglichst nah an die Terrasse setzen. Auch die Gartenlaube für die Gartenwerkzeuge und die Blumenbeete müssen ihren zukünftigen Platz finden. Wege sollten Sie ebenfalls einplanen, damit sie auch bei schlechtem Wetter trittsicher zu ihrer Gartenlaube oder ihrem Kräuterbeet gelangen. Eine maßstabsgerechte Zeichnung ihres Gartens wird ihnen bei ihrer Planung helfen, experimentieren Sie auf dem Papier herum, um das richtige zukünftige Aussehen ihres Gartens zu finden.

Well, our goal was to be ready for the Berlinale…we’re almost there!

I was in Berlin at the beginning of the week and we just need to finalize the storage in the corridor, plus buy and fix the washing-drying machine, but all in all the Flat is ready!

I also met a new neighbour who just started her renovation…we had a good chat on bathroom tiles, old windows and optimal resizing of those awkward post-war floor plans!

It’s a pity we will not be able to be in Berlin for the Berlinale though…but just a few days later. So, it will be soon Cleaning Time, taking away that fine invisible dust, placing the brand, new furniture at the right angle, starting to work on the lights, unpacking cutlery, pots and pans, cups and glasses. And the Samovar!! The soul of the flat…

Textiles were purchased in Rome at the Fiera del Bianco in january, very nice and very good value for money…a luggage full of linen and pillow cases in fantastic hues.

We are indeed satisfied. The prussian soul of the flat is now showing all its potential and the high ceilings are fabulous, still we applied the good Bauhaus rules and with its clean lines, the flat now looks liveable and warm, as though it had always been like this. Gemuetlich, precisely.

Nach erfolgreichem Rutsch ins neue Jahr, haben wir uns an Neujahr mal Gedanken über die mögliche Einrichtung im DG gemacht und eine Alternative fürs EG überlegt.

Ergebnis für das DG:

Ansicht wie beim EG aus Richtung Süd nach Nord.

Vorne links findet sich das Gästezimmer, rechts daneben das Schlafzimmer.

Hinten links das Kinderzimmer, Treppenhaus und das Bad.

Kinder- und Schlafzimmer verfügen über ein Dachfenster, im Treppenhaus wird der Wechsel für ein Dachfenster vorbereitet.

Im EG haben wir lediglich den Wohnbereich geändert, sprich die Couch und TV-Schrank anders angeordnet. In dieser Varinate erscheint uns das ganze EG “offener”, zumal der TV-Schrank nur eine Höhe von 1,50m im Gegensatz zum Raumteiler mit 1,85m hat.

So oder so wird sich daran aber eh wieder irgendwas ändern, wir sind für ständiges Möbelrücken berühmt und berüchtigt

One year ago we were in Berlin, formalizing our purchase of The Flat. This week the main part of the refurbishing has been finalized, more on this later. In the meantime, let’s have a look on how it looks from outside and how it was when we bought it. Definitely renovierungbeduerftig (needing a refurbishing), but with that Prussian nice bone structure and lots of potential. So let’s see some pictures…

First of all the exterior…a nice street in gorgeous Schoeneberg!

A beautiful entrance in 1914 style, old oak…scent of bee wax on the black shiny massive staircase…

….very prussian!

I remember Mein Mann phoning me and saying: “This flat I saw today…what a magnificient window! No balcony, but a great Wohnzimmer: high ceiling and flooded with light…! Century-old herringbone oak parquet in pristine condition…The kitchen and bath are a total mess, but it’s got a lot of potential…once refurbished…Shall we bid for the newly refurbished 50s flat with a balcony overlooking Kleistpark or this messy old Altbau of 1914 with a gorgeous window?”.  Of course we bid for the Altbau! The rarity effect. The personality appeal of the flat, different from the others.

So how did we extract the potential of the prussian flat? Here you can see our architect at work doing measurements in June, as per our Timeline.

As with many Altbau, the Flat was the result of post-WWII cut-and-paste, with too big a corridor, no separate bedroom, and a lot of valuable space dedicated to kitchen and bathroom…

So the Flat had definitely potential. Nice Kiez, nice street, great (recently refurbished) building, and a dusty flat with good bones needing some rethinking.

The entrance is magnificient, with its Neoclassical boiseries…and massive Eiche (oak) staircase…yes, our guts feeling was right…

Gestern hatten wir ein erneutes Gespräch mit der Architektin, um die letzten offenen Fragen vor der Abgabe des Bauantrages zu klären.

Die bisherigen Grundrisse waren ja quasi nur eine “Vorlage”, gestern ging es dann noch mal ans “Eingemachte”.

Im Endeffekt sind es nur kleine Änderungen, aber soweit sind wir uns nun alle einig und das Haus sollte so auch gebaut werden können.

Vor unserem Gespräch hatte Sie noch einen Termin beim Bauamt und dort noch einige Sachen besprochen und geklärt, da gab es vom Bauamt keine Einwände gegen unsere Pläne, mal schauen, ob dies auch beim Bauantrag so bleibt.

Die aktuallisierten Grundrisse folgen natürlich noch.

Morgen haben wir noch einen Termin beim Notar, der am Montag ist leider geplatzt, aber dazu möchte ich jetzt nichts groß sagen/schreiben, ist nicht gut für den Blutdruck…

…sind da

Leider konnten wir die Originalgrundrisse nicht komplett übernehmen (von unseren Wünschen abgesehen, die wären soweit kein Problem gewesen), da der Raum für die Wärmepumpe und Hausanschlüsse zu klein gewesen wäre.

Also musste unsere Architektin nochmals ans Zeichenbrett (bzw. den Rechner) und hat im 4. Anlauf den passenden Grundriss für uns gefunden.

Wir präsentieren also (unter Vorbehalt, da noch genau wg. einiger Abstandsflächen geschaut werden muss) voller Stolz die geplanten Räumlichkeiten:

Grundriss EG

Geschätzten 95% der Leser wird sicherlich der 2. Stellplatz vor dem Eingang ins Auge fallen, aber diese Lösung war uns am liebsten. 2 einzeln anfahrbare Stellplätze hätte man in den Garten verlegen müssen, und dies kam für uns nicht in Frage.  Als Änderung vom Original ist also festzuhalten:

- Treppe gespiegelt und damit einen Abstellraum unter der Treppe geschaffen

- WC um eine Dusche erweitert und den HWR-Raum entsprechend für die Wärmepumpe vergrößert, wodurch die Küche 1m “verloren” hat, aber dies lies sich anders leider nicht lösen, ohne die komplette Statik über den Haufen zu werfen. Vom Platz her sollte es dennoch reichen, auch wenn wir etwas anders die Küche aufstellen, als ursprünglich geplant.

Grundriss DG

Das Dachgeschoss haben wir soweit fast 1:1 übernommen, natürlich ist auch hier die Treppe gespiegelt.

Ansonsten wurde lediglich die Wand zwischen “Kind 1″ und Bad gerade gezogen, diese hatte vorher einen Versatz für die Dusche, welcher uns nicht zusagte.  Zusätzlich wurde in beiden Kinderzimmern ein Dachflächenfenster eingefügt.

Alles in allem ist es (fast) genau so geworden wie wir wollten, einige Abstriche mussten wir wegen dem Grundstück bzw. der Hausgröße in Kauf nehmen, aber dass wussten wir ja auch vorher.

We could have been more efficient. Still, we needed to rely upon holidays, availability of flights at reasonable prices and sometimes things just take time to fall in place.

At the moment, we are beyond the 50% threshold in our refurbishment process. We’re thinking stuccos, painting and taps. Next week we’ll see. So let’s summarize how long it took us to get here.

a) AUG 2007 - first scouting trip, 10 days: exploration of 2-3 Kiez; understanding what we wanted, in which area, and what we could get for the budget we had in mind in each single area. We did our first binding offer for a flat on the last day of our holiday, difficult choice as many interesting flats were available;

b) SEP 2007 – disappointment. The Makler cheated upon us and sold to someone else in spite of the binding offer (see post). Chic happens. We have to start all over again. Manic depression. Frustration. Plus, loss of holidays!

c) NOV 2007 - second scouting blitz: 3 days and lots of appointments. Still, scientific methodology and lots of determination. At the end of the 3rd day Mein Mann phones me with good news: he’s found 2 interesting flats in Schoeneberg. One is an Aufbau flat, up and running and perfectly refurbished, nice balcony, nice view on an historical building and garden and close to Goltzstrasse’s Szene; the other one has no balcony, needs plenty of work but is a magnificient Altbau. We go for the Altbau, guts feeling oblige. He makes an offer, the seller accepts!

d) DEC 2007 – On a cold and grey morning our super-reliable new Makler waits for us at Schoeneberg. Quick look to the flat, just to double-check. We get in the car and rush to the Notary. We meet there our simultaneus translator (Dolmetscherin, what a nice german word) and the counterpart. After a formal 2-hours double-language reading of the contract, the purchasing process has formally…started.  We should have the money ready for a payment in early february, according to the legal-technical schedule. Things are different from Italy.

e) MAY 2007 – after countless e-mails to our Notary, and lots of mumble-mumble, at last we have the Grundbuch registration of the property. It did took a while. But Altbau have a complex history like mysterious women and don’t unveil details easily. Moreover, we are co-owners of the Hausmeister’s flat, on the ground floor, and the registration of that tiny portion of property was the one holding back the whole process. Only when absolutely everything was in order also with the tiny portion of the Hausmeister’s flat, we were allowed to do the money transfer. Still, we did not possess the flat yet. We didn’t have the keys yet.

f) JUNE 2007 – Keys at last! A quick roundtrip to Berlin, and this time, it’s StripedCat who’s on duty. I set off from Ciampino with the easyjet orange bus and our architect. We had seen already how he cleverly re-organized space in another Berlin refurbishment, a few months earlier, chez our friend in Moabit. So, squadra vincente non si cambia. We appointed the same refurbishing company as well. Let’s start the homework.

g) AUG 2007 – On holiday in Berlin in one of our beloved bed and breakfast, but without project and in a moment in which no builders are around. Good time for doing some software work. Study period decoration.  Buy books, lots of books…visit a lot of buildings of the same age…1914. Get obsessed with 1914. But eventually buy a couple of interesting Art Deco pieces at the Rathaus Schoeneberg russian flea market and local bric-a-brac stores. Art Deco, Wiener Werkstaette fit with the sober Altbau’s Neoclassic-Historicismus decoration. Our flat will remain prussian, but with that Modernist twist.

g) SEP 2007 – we got the project. Need to have it priced by the refurbishing Firma.

h) OCT 2007 – Refurbishment starts. Lots of demolition…A trip to Berlin, in Tempelhof I go and see the oak parquet for the new rooms, the tiles.

i) NOV 2007 – Wow! The flat’s layout has changed completely. Still some bits to be figured out, but all in all the new shape, translated from paper into brick and mortar, does seem to work…much more light and the prussian feeling is unleashed, once those thin post-war walls have been removed.

l) DEC 2007 – we are discussing paint, kitchen layout, here in Rome. In a few days, implementation will follow. The hardware part is almost over: completely new walls, pipes, bathroom, kitchen and some floors. We had to alter a bit the original project due to those constraints you can only figure out once things go from 2-D to 3-D, but all in all the flat is coming out like on paper.

We visited several Aufbau flats buit after WWII, between 1955 and 1960. They are all neatly planned and very rational. But there are a lot of them on the market, and that we could always find one, if we fancied it. Like the one herebelow, in Moabit.

We felt these flats are quite abundant on the market, whereas Altbau are definitely  rare, especially those at reasonable prices.

Sometimes the Altbau is just “old” and not particularly exciting. Sometime it’s fine, but the Kiez is a bit of a social desert. Sometimes it’s magnificient, but someone just snapped it up!

Still with a lot of dedication and patience you may find a flat in an Altbau which needs some refurbishing but offers:

1) interesting architectural patterns and facades: Jugendstil, Gruenderzeit, Historicismus, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Bauhaus, Bayerisch, Gothic… you name it.

2) nice lobbys with big portes cocheres and staircases with wooden boiseries

3) the flats have high ceilings: close to 4 metres on average, some retain the original stuccos

4) iron, heavy heating systems, sometimes with nice shapes, forms follows function etc etc

5) beautiful windows, bow-windows – and BIG ones, not tiny!

6) old oak parquet, or at least, portions of it;

Of course, there are also some minuses:

1) awkward layout, due to the post-war cut-and-paste: in many cases a large buergerlich flat has been divided into 2 or 3 smaller units, the Grundriss sometimes has an innatural feeling, with small rooms, big corridors, odd room shapes;

2) very thin walls were added in order to carve out more rooms out of bigger ones, they have external pipes in many cases;

3) uneven floor surfaces. Nice parquets mix and match with poor wooden planks or are hidden below old carpets. Sometimes the original parquet was substituted with laminat, which is ok for a 50s flat, but looks out-of-synch in an Altbau

In a nutshell, you have the uniqueness, but lots of work to do, and some money needs to be spent on the property.

Still, they did know a thing or two on building techniques, one century ago. Those Altbau which resisted to 2 wars have done their homework pretty well, and they feel solid and glorious.

It DOES gets emotional…if you fall for an Altbau, it’s also for it being still there, 100 years or more after it was built. It’s for that bit of boiserie, still up. Or for those thick exterior walls, conserving so well the heat, and for those thick, solid heating systems, which were extremely modern at the time of construction, and still are.

Photos: StripedCat (all Altbau photos were taken in Schoeneberg)

Langsam wird es Zeit, eine kleine Aktualisierung zu publizieren, über die Ereignisse und meine Tätigkeiten in den letzten Monaten.

Wie Ihr wißt, arbeite ich schon länger daran, eine größere Ausstellung vorzubereiten, was aber nicht ganz leicht ist, insbesondere wenn es sich um Bildhauerei handelt. Es musste ein geeigneter Raum gefunden werden, mit entsprechender “Aura”, da ich meine Arbeiten “dramaturgisch inszenieren” wollte. Auch mussten Zufahrtswege bestehen, da einige Tonnen Gewicht zu bewegen wären.

Ich hatte lange nach geeigneten Räumen gesucht. Zuerst im Untergrund, da mir eine Katakomben-Situation vorschwebte. Ich recherchierte diverse Bunkeranlagen, die noch reichlich im Münchner Untergrund vorhanden sind. Aufgrund der historischen Vorbelastungen und durch die schlechte Erreichbarkeit schieden diese Ideen wieder aus. Hier im Bild die Zeppelintribüne (Kassenhalle) am alten Flughafen München Riem und die darunter liegenden Luftschutzbunker, die ich kurzzeitig in Erwägung gezogen hatte.

http://www.bunkerfreunde-muenchen.de/

http://www.bunkerfreunde-muenchen.de/

http://www.bunkerfreunde-muenchen.de/

Dann gab mir ein befreundeter Architekt den Tipp, die Regenrückhaltebecken in München einmal anzusehen (ich hatte es schon erwähnt). Man kann sie zwar besichtigen oder für kurzfristige Events buchen, aber für Ausstellungen ist das ganze – obwohl räumlich sehr interessant – ungeeignet. Der Transport ist kompliziert und der Event ist nicht planbar, da selbst im Sommer plötzliche Regenfälle eine Überflutung des unterirdischen Beckens bedeuten.

Regenwasserspeicher am Hirschgarten, München

Daraufhin hatte ich mir im Juni eine säkularisierte Kirche in München auserkoren, zentral gelegen und von Zeit zu Zeit auch durch das Erzbistum München und Freising als Ausstellungsraum genutzt.

In einem darauf angepaßten Konzept wurde ich im Kunstreferat des Erzbistums vorstellig und bewarb mich mit meinem Projekt. Nach einigen zähen Wochen erhielt ich dann eine Absage durch den Kunstreferenten, mit der Begründung, meine Arbeiten – insbesondere die Köpfe – seien für die Kirche zu “antikisch”.

Nun, das entband mich von der Sorge irgendwelche verbalen Rücksichten zu nehmen, in der Äußerung meiner Ansichten. Und, es zeigte mir, mit meiner Kunst auf dem richtigen Weg zu sein. Und noch ein Gutes, hatte dieser Rückschlag: Da es sich bis dahin schwierig gestaltet hatte einen geeigneten Ausstellungsraum zu finden, entwarf ich kurzerhand ein eigenes Gebäude.

Monomythos Block

Monomythos Block - Grundriß

Dies ist die erste Manifestation meiner Kathedrale – gewissermaßen die Vorstufe. Ich nenne es den Monomythos Block: Ein schwarzer monolithischer Kubus, ähnlich der Kaaba in Mekka, jedoch mit Portal, den beiden Portalfiguren und vier Innen­räumen, die farbig gefasst sind.

Dieser „Black Cube“ wird als mobiler Tempel an wechselnden Standorten für jeweils 6 Wochen dort aufgestellt, wo die Menschen es leicht haben, einen kurzen Augenblick im Alltag inne zuhalten und in den mythologischen Urgrund aller Menschen einzutauchen. Fernab des offiziellen Kunstbetriebs möchte ich in einer theatralischen Inszenierung des Innenraumes mittels Licht, Klang und Geruch meine Arbeiten auf einfache und spontane Weise zugänglich machen.

When we started visiting flats we noticed that the first clivage is between Altbau und Aufbau.

The majority of flats that are featured in ads online and on the newspapers are those that we nicknamed “Aufbau”,  since they date from the 1950s or the 1960s and were built following standardized plans. The use of space is intensive and clever, ceilings are not particularly high (still, they are higher than in Paris), and even small surfaces do have a nice layout.

Once you have visited a dozen of them you already know what to expect when you visit another one. The smallest flats feature a functional bathroom, a small but effective kitchen, and a Wohnzimmer with a balcony (sometimes as small as 1 sqm, a smorker’s balcony, but definitely there) that doubles as a bed room.

In some cases there are indeed surprises, like this flat’s interesting small hot house for the plants. Our Maklerin (and good friend) F. explained to us something quite logical, ie that in post-war Berlin people spent their holidays on the balcony: having dinner outside, doing some gardening. The small hot house was conceived for storing plants in the winter. In-house it would be too hot and they would take up too much space, whereas the small hot house provided a transitional temperature ideal for storing the pots of plants.

Our architect B. said that he is always amazed by the generally very good quality of design of these 50-years old flats. Very rational and functional, but never poor. You clearly have the impression that through standardization the administration needed to re-build vast amounts of the city and to house thousands of people, but good design was provided together with housing. In every Kiez you can spot the 50s flats, even in the middle of Altbau compact blocks you can still spot where the odd bomb cancelled one building, the 50s geometric lines mend up the shattered urban texture.

During our first flat expedition in august 2007, we “missed” two flats like these. The first was really small but in a fantastic location, in Motzstrasse close to the beautiful Viktoria-Louise Platz. Our bid for the flat was preceded by someone else’s…this was our first disappointment. Because disappointments happen, all the time, when you are looking for a flat. You fall in love with a location, a layout, a sort of je-ne-sais-quoi and then…it’s gone.

The second was close to Rathaus Schoeneberg, facing a nice small piazza, a standardized 1950s building. Recently renovated, and with a nice black marble staircase. Because these buildings are indeed simple, but they were conceived very well at the time. Space for storing your bicicles in the courtyard, Keller downstairs, very frequently they have lifts (quite rare in Berlin), they have nice stairs, made of stone and with windows. Simple, but very dignified and easy to maintain, never grotty. These are dignified buildings.

This time we were the first on the list! We had very clear ideas about the flat we had just visited, we did the offer after less than one hour by fax and confirmed it by visiting the Makler in her office before lunch. We did notice that this Makler looked somewhat unsure or hesitating, but when we handed her the duly filled in form with our signature and offer (she was selling formerly State-owned flats at a fixed price, on a first-come first-served basis) she said that we were the first to have done a bid, so it was just a matter of checking data and starting to talk about notary issues.

We went back to Rome, expecting an e-mail to kick-start the purchase process, but never heard anything from her anymore…she would not answer e-mails or phone calls, nor return messages. Eventually she sold to someone who did an offer after ours. Just because she didn’t feel comfortable in “dealing with foreigners”.

So we discovered that even in the reliable Germany it happens to meet The Unreliable Makler. I must admit, all the flats we visited fitted at a 99% rate the description in the Expose’. Both the Expose’ and the Makler talk are very, very transparent and reliable, reality fits description, a nice feeling compared with our past experiences when renting in Paris and Rome, where Makler equals absurd jargon and unrealistic descriptions.

We did meet with so many Makler in Berlin and the vast majority of them do not speak a single word of English, but are extremely helpful and professional. We make an effort in German, they reduce the speed of their talk, and the discussion goes on. Their Expose’ are immaculately detailed, full of pictures, so the visits are quite easy.

But apparently, there is 1 dumb Makler in Berlin, and we met her!

Bottom line: sound disappointment, feeling of being cheated on, loss of time and opportunities. Because we had seen other interesting flats, but then committed to this specific one and did not pursue the other transactions. Our first expedition to Berlin in august 2007 (10 days of our holidays) ended up with a lot of research and a big disappointment…But research is never a loss of time. You will capitalize on it.

Nevertheless, we still are fascinated by the quality of design of the 50s. Our friend in Moabit with the help of Mr B. (the architect) renovated one of these flats and the result is absolutely gemuetlich…on the balcony there is space for pots of Erika and Hypericum.

Considering all the criticism attracted by the balcony-missing Schlange or Snake-building between Moabit and the Spree, during the 50s they had an idea or two on how to build apartments, even on a tight budget…

O. Reuter / Luftbildarchiv Berlin

Mensch, wenn man unsere Rohbauer lässt, sind sie wirklich schnell! Es entstehen immer mehr Ringanker und Dachgeschossinnen- und -außenwände… und die Stützen im Erdgeschoss sind weg. (Bei dem Sauwetter ist das Beste, was man tun kann, aufräumen, und das haben die Herren auch sehr gründlich gemacht!)

Gestern fing unser Bauleiter an, vom Richtfest zu reden Jetzt wird’s wieder stressig für uns, aber zum Glück gibt es ja das Internet, da haben fleißige Leute schon alles vorbeitet. Ob der Bürgermeister wohl so kurzfristig einen Termin freihat? Und der Baudezernent, der Bezirksamtsleiter und die Mitglieder der ehemaligen Wettbewerbsjury? Und ob wir die Pressemappe rechzeitig fertig haben? Fragen über Fragen

Spannend wird’s auch, wie sich das jetzt mit dem Straßen- und Bürgersteigausbau vorm Grundstück entwickelt. Die bisherige bordsteinumrandete Rinne ist schon ganz schön nah rangekommen, aber vielleicht passt es mit der Planung ja gerade so, dass sich niemand ins Gehege kommt.

Und heute gab es eine spontane Zusammenkunft wegen unserer Betontreppe. Irgendwie passt das 2D-Modell im Plan nicht zu dem, was in 3D auf der Baustelle steht. Nun ist wieder viel Rechnerei angesagt.

It’s time to tear down our Berlin Wall! The paper-thin walls built after WWII in our 1914 Altbau must go! They alter the original plan of The Flat and we want to restore the prussian beauty of the magnificient ceiling (almost 4m) and boiseries.

We have checked the materials: the big walls are very sound, the ceiling structure is very traditional and is in pristine condition, it looks as it was put together yesterday, with its bamboo light structure. That one is going to stay there. The ugly 70s plastic fake wood ceiling cover is going.

Also the beautiful old oak parquet is ok and is definitely going to stay. The heavy iron heating system is fabulous…as the arched window is one of the reasons why we bought this flat…but first of all, let’s get rid of those walls added 60 years ago…

Scheduling a trip for mid-august meant also carefully setting up appointments with real estate agents (MAKLER) in order to make the most of our stay in Berlin. We had surfed on real estate web sites so by this time we had acquired the essential vocabulary:

a) EXPOSE’ – a 3-page document detailing the property. Inclusive of photos (external view of the building, sometimes photos of the interior as well), information on the Kiez, age and condition of the building, square footage, amenities;

b) GRUNDRISS – the flat’s map

c) WOHNGELD – the cost for running the flat

d) and last but not least…the OBJEKT! (the property)

So…once the ideas are rather clear on the OBJEKT you are looking for, ask your MAKLER for one or more TERMIN (=appointment) to see a few flats of the desired size (and price) and make sure you get an EXPOSE’ via e-mail before in ordert to fine tune your research, possibly with a GRUNDISS telling you more about light, orientation of the flat etc.

Getting hold also of the cost profile of the flat (WOHNGELD) will help you in setting up your excel file and in identifying your ongoing cashflow profile, depending if you’re letting, living in the flat or using it as a FeWo (holiday apartment). Of course transaction costs should also be investigated, but those are quite clear and standard, they do not depend upon the individual property.

But the crucial question is….WHERE IN BERLIN?

That requires a bit more than just surfing the net and working the phones.

Get hold of you birkenstocks, and hit the town for extensive empirical research!

Berlin is larger than life

Hier klicken

Da sich beim Grundriss vermutlich nix großartiges mehr ändert kann man die ja mal publizieren…

Mauerpark gentrification? au secours!!! Let’s hope this side of Berlin remains messy and fluid, and not a neat row of pretty boxes! There are already so many houses built in Berlin which only ask for a coat of paint (and yes, new plumbing, the removal of the odd paper-thin post-war dividing wall), why building more?

20 years on, a street recalls the Berlin wall

by William Boston on Sphere

BERLIN (Nov. 6) — Astrid Kaiser still trembles when she remembers being frisked as a child by Red Army guards at the fortified border on Bernauer Strasse, where communist East Germany first began erecting the Berlin Wall on Aug. 13, 1961. “They even searched my doll carriage,” says Kaiser, now 58. “I still feel uneasy walking on the eastern side.”

As Germany celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, this street in its former shadow sums up the mix of pain, hope and nostalgia the wall still inspires. Urban change has erased many of the last vestiges of the Wall, but here a battle still rages between preservationists and real estate developers.

The images from the Bernauer Strasse’s past are both iconic and tragic. It was here that the famous “wall jumper,” an East German border guard, leaped over barbed wire to freedom in the West. When the wall first went up, people suddenly trapped in the East jumped from the windows of Bernauer Strasse apartment blocks into the West — or in some cases to tragic deaths. The East German authorities boarded up the windows and finally demolished a row of houses along the Bernauer Strasse to prevent escapes, including storied tunnels dug under the Wall to freedom. It is estimated that about 165 people were killed trying to overcome the Berlin Wall and escape into the West, eight of those along Bernauer Strasse.

Kaiser was one of the lucky ones. As Russian soldiers were upstairs searching her apartment around the corner from the Bernauer Strasse, she cowered in the basement with her family. The Wall hadn’t yet been built, but fearing that it could be their last chance for freedom, the family sneaked over the border after nightfall, leaving Kaiser’s aunt behind.

“We came here every Sunday to wave to her from the street because she couldn’t cross over to us and we couldn’t go to her,” Kaiser says.

The neighbors who once stared at each other across the Cold War frontier now walk freely back and forth across the old border, which has become almost invisible to those who don’t recall its menacing appearance.

“Berlin is one city now, and we don’t think of it in terms of east and west,” says Niels Kern, a 13-year-old student on a field trip to the Berlin Wall Documentation Center on Bernauer Strasse.

Many visitors — those old enough to remember the Wall and many too young to recall it — are astounded at how swiftly Berliners cleared their streets of the gray concrete fortification. Bernauer Strasse is one of the few places in the city where a substantial section of the Wall still stands in its original place.

“I was amazed at how completely they swept it away,” says Robert Monaghan, a professor at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom, who was leading a class trip to Berlin. “This is really the only place in the city where you can see the real Wall. It’s a dramatic statement.”

Though many people are still obsessed with the Berlin Wall’s past, the future of the land it once occupied is a burning issue, too. Throughout the city, new buildings have gone up on land where the Wall once stood.

Not everywhere, though. After the Wall fell, a wide swath of the former “death strip” — an intentionally open expanse within East Germany’s elaborate border fortifications — was transformed at the Bernauer Strasse into a public park. The aptly named Mauerpark, or Wall Park, has become a thriving mecca for artists, street merchants and New Age disciples. It hosts weekly free concerts and several urban beach bars where guests can sip caipirinhas in the sun while a DJ spins techno and house records.

An expatriate American there runs the outdoor “Bear Pit Karaoke”, which attracts hundreds of people every weekend. And at the flea market — Berlin’s biggest — shoppers can buy a variety of goods such as old East German furniture, bicycle parts, rare LPs, grilled sausages and beer.

But this nearly permanent Volksfest could soon be verboten if local real estate developers have their way. There is a plan to clean up the park, chase out its colorful denizens and build a row of neatly tailored townhouses. Finely manicured lawns would flourish where wild grass now grows on the former death strip.

“It would be hard for me if they close the flea market,” says Sahin Ilhan, a Turkish merchant sitting behind a table full of trinkets. “The other flea markets are too expensive for me to register a booth, and here is where all the tourists come.”

For the countercultural types who are attracted to Berlin by the lingering lure of cheap rent and a vibrant urban vibe, the gentrification of the Mauerpark is emblematic of a larger issue: the death of hipness as Berlin becomes just another European city two decades after the fall of the Wall.

Singing “Ring of Fire” as she strums along on a ukulele, Kim Boekbinder, an American songwriter living in Berlin, worries that the city could even lose its attraction for the globe-trotting bohemians.

“The more they shut down spaces for artists and for people to express themselves freely, the more they destroy the reason why people come here,” she says.

Still, it’s too soon to give up on the vibrancy that has typified Berlin for centuries. After all, even a Wall right through its center wasn’t enough to do it in.

It took some time, to refurbish them, to stitch up proper mini-websites, but eventually here they are. Click on the links on the right…

The 1920s flat has a surface of only 54 square meters – plus a mezzanine! – and is located in a beautiful Altbau. The 1960s flat is cuddly, only 30 square meters but its location is magic!

Both are located in the Bayerisches Viertel in Schöneberg…our ideal neighborhood!

Neustadt. Wie die Zeit vergeht … Die Gespräche mit den Bauunter- und übernehmern laufen. Und sie laufen gut. Bis dato haben wir kaum Grund zur Beschwerde, und das Feld zieht sich nur wenig auseinander. Es ist allerdings definitiv noch zu früh, um einen Favoriten unter den Anbietern ausmachen zu können. Auch die Frage “Fertighaus oder konventionell?” haben wir noch nicht abschließend für uns geklärt.

Beim Grundriss zeichnet sich hingegen schon eine Lösung ab. Sie stammt in dieser Form letztlich aus meiner eigenen Feder. Ich konnte den Bleistift mal wieder nicht in der Federmappe lassen und habe wild gezeichnet. Die Basis dafür bildeten im Internet publizierte Grundrisse verschiedener Anbieter und Bauherren sowie die Gespräche und bisherigen Entwürfe.

Ein Angebot liegt uns inzwischen vor. Jetzt warten wir noch auf die anderen …

Hallo liebe Mitleser!

Mein Schatz und ich ziehen um von Dresden Neustadt Richtung Südvorstadt. Eine gute Entscheidung, was die Lage und das Finanzielle betrifft.

Mit der tollen Webseite www.floorplanner.com habe ich mal unseren Grundriss geplant: Ich finde es genial, dass man richtigen Fußboden einfügen kann und viele Objekte auch in 3D Ansicht verfügbar sind. Echt wunderbar. Wie ihr seht habe ich zwei verschiedene Fußbodenfarben gewählt.  Für Räume mit hellen Möbeln, dunkler Fußboden und umgedreht. Jeder hat sein eigenes Zimmer, aber es ist genügend Schlafplatz für zwei in jedem   Platz fürs kuscheln gibt es und das Wohnzimmer und der Balkon sind sowieso gemeinsame Plätze!

Als nächstes folgt die Wohnungsübergabe und das streichen der Räume. Eine Wand muss auch noch raus, aber dazu bald mehr!

This is it:)

This is the butterfly…a bedroom full of light, the bed facing an enormous double window overlooking the chestnut trees, new oak floor and travertino paint for the walls.

…the necessary chrysalis…

And this was the ugly worm we bought…poor thing it was ugly but with lots of potential! This is the same room as above, here as a post-war kitchen.

Before the war each floor of this Altbau had just 2 enormous buergerlich flats, with chambres de bonne and the like. Each flat was then divided in 3 flats. Our worm – pardon, our Flat – didn’t have any bedroom, just a big living room with a bow-window, a kitchen and bath both with windows, and a roomy dark corridor for a total of 54sqm.

We torn the wall down (even if we never liked Reagan, we did as he said ) and transformed the neighbouring bath and kitchen into a nice bedroom with a superb double window.

So now The Flat has a double bedroom and, thanks to our architect, the living room goes back to its pre-war destination. (Er…what about kitchen and bathroom then?!)

Last weekend, first night in the flat! The flat needs still a bit of work on the storage units, so there are still tools and paint around the living room. But bathroom, kitchen and bedroom were up and running. And anyway, no hotel or B&B had been booked…so I would have slept in the flat no matter the situation.

Tests were ok and with flying colours…

Opting for a big shower (2m x 1m) rather for a bathtube was definitely a good idea, especially with the rainshower set. The snowy and icy cold weather in Berlin provided the ideal test also for the heating system below the dark anthracite grey tiles of the bathroom. It’s a pleasure to walk barefoot on something very similar to stones warmed by the sun. Our personal zero tolerance for bathroom furniture – except from a built-in small cabinet – also gives to the bathroom a nice mineral feeling, quite warm thank you to the mixed use of mosaic and milky-white tiles on the walls.

The kitchen test was limited to a good cup of tea as I had not bought groceries…in the picture you see a gorgeous constructivist-looking IKEA teapot. I bought the bold zinc letters forming our logo (RC)^2 last summer in NYC at the Anthropology store on Madison. Oh boy, at that time we just had the keys of the flat and the project was just a sketch done on the table of our favorite roman pizzeria while brainstorming with our architect. I can’t believe that sketch is now reality…

The living room hosted still a bit of work in progress, but it’s the only room which retained its original destination, albeit slightly modified by the disguised presence of the kitchen and by a mimetic mezzanine. The Rundbogenfenster – sort of bow window – was refurbished but untouched. A kind neighbor who lived 1945 in this Altbau building said that we are lucky to be on the front side of the building, which was not damaged by bombs and this explains the fact that these windows are only present on one side of the house. As the oak original flooring and ancient bamboo internal ceiling structure.

The bedroom is fully furnished even if curtains are badly needed in order to guarantee some quiet sleep, the 2 windows are indeed big and flood the room with light.

My brother and I bought a small radio-alarm clock in order to have some familiar noises around us. We were surprised by how silent the flat is, good 1900’s isolation, I suppose. We could hear steps on the kerb covered with icy snow during the night.

I hope that on the next trip MeinMann will be able to join me to Berlin, to see the result! He found this flat during our second flat-hunting campaign, back in november 2007, we signed the contract together in december 2007 and since June 2008 – when we finally got the keys – it’s been my task to commute monthly to Berlin.

I am now on first-name terms with a few cafe-keepers and shop assistants, I’ve found out what I can get at Aldi and what deserves a trip to Kaiser, learned the ropes on the comprehensive pillow offer in Germany, become an expert in return Blitztrips to IKEA in under 1 hour…the Kiez is my oyster.

I am looking forward to enjoying together the Gemuetlichkeit* of our flat, after all this busy-bee activity and all the research and big and small decisions. We deserve at last some farniente in Schoeneberg, going to the market in Winterfeldplatz, buying a Bund of flowers or listening to a nice record at home…

*=something more than cozy…warm, intimate, comfortable, good to stay in…something that cats master very well as you can imagine