Architectural Fair

Two years ago West Berlin sent out invitations to the world's architects, asking them for low-cost plans to rebuild Berlin's bombed-out Hansaviertel, an upper-class district bordering the Tiergarten. By last week West Berlin housing authorities had put their stamp of approval on 56 plans, already had six under construction. The new apartment city promises to become one of the world's most handsome showcases of what's new in modern low-cost architecture. Pick of the new buildings: P: From France, Le Corbusier, designer of Marseille's Radiant City (TIME, Feb. 2, 1948 et seq.) and India's new city of Chandigarh (TIME, June 8, 1953), submitted the most controversial project of all. In an effort to win over Europe's most famed architect, Berlin city officials agreed to waive low unit costs, promised Le Corbusier a top commission, drew the line only when plans for his 300-apartment building showed ceilings only 7 ft. 5 in. high. "Le Corbu" argued such low ceilings were "adequate for Americans and London bobbies, so why not for Berliners," threatened to withdraw. In one week 4,700 Berliners wrote to Berlin's Tagesspiegel (2,000 pro v. 2,700 con) before Le Corbu agreed to raise living-room ceilings to 8 ft. 2 in., but testily kept bedrooms as they were. P: From the U.S., former German Bauhaus Leader (now a U.S. citizen) Walter Gropius sent plans for a curved-front, eight-story apartment house. Set on stilts, the building will be constructed of white concrete and white enameled metal. P: From Brazil, Oscar Niemeyer submitted a toned-down version of his usually flamboyant tropical style. His plan, approved last week, won acclaim at once. It calls for an eight-story, glass-ended apartment house honeycombed with private balconies. To service the building, which will rest on 14 V-shaped stilts, Niemeyer has housed the elevator in a separate wedge-shaped structure.* To cut costs, stops will be made only at the top and at the fifth floor (given over to communal TV rooms, library, nursery). This economy measure, Niemeyer confidently predicts, will give apartment dwellers who will have to walk up or down to their front doors the "desirable illusion" of living in a two-story building. P: From Berlin's Ludwig Lemmer came the plans for a new Kaiser Friedrich Memorial Church, going up on the ruined foundations of the old Kaiser Wilhelm Church. Main feature: a tall, concrete spire (see cut), which Berliners are calling "The Spiked Helmet of God." P: On the nearby site of the former Reichstag, Berliners will also have a new Congress Hall, mainly financed by U.S. government funds. Designed by Cambridge (Mass.) Architect Hugh Stubbins, it will have seven conference halls, theater and 1,200-capacity auditorium. Outstanding feature: a flaring sunbonnet roof moored by long steel cables.

So pleased are West Berliners that they have decided to replace their annual West Berlin Industrial Exhibition for 1957 with an International Construction Exhibition. Their twofold purpose: 1) give the world an on-the-spot look at their new architecture and construction; 2) put on display West Berlin's answer to East Berlin's mile-long Stalinallee, done in approved Moscow style. West Berliners expect to win in a walk. Stalinallee, with its small windows, warped doors, faulty plumbing and fallen idol, is already being called "The Street of the Great Mistake."

* For one outside elevator already built in the U.S., see BUSINESS.

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