Flow channel of the Water Engineering Institute, Tiergarten
Last week, Star Wars celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. However, a part of a generation of German architects outpaced George Lucas by several years. Although they created in the spirit of "functionalism," their results seem to be from another planet. The most famous building of this phase is the flow channel by Ludwig Leo, which looks as if it directly fell out of Lucas's film saga. Leo built the circulation channel upright and, with the manner of pop-art artists, turned it into a technical-urban symbol. Dieter Hoffmann-Axthelm described Ludwig Leo as “the unconditional functionalist of his time”. Leo continuously broke down the construction assignments or competition conditions, adjusted or modified the assigned tasks, and then wrapped the functional scheme into a convincing, expressionally strong three-dimensional image. This makes him and his few realizations quite a unique case, which is all the more significant in the architecturally strict atmosphere of Berlin.
The flow channel of the Institute of Water Engineering at the Berlin University of Technology is located in the Tiergarten district directly on the island surrounded by the Landwehrkanal (militia canal). Similar to the federal educational and research institute DLRG (German Life Saving Society), Ludwig Leo also started here from a functional assignment, from which the architectural form of the building subsequently evolved. The circulation pipe for flow tests is not, as is usual for buildings of this kind, horizontally positioned, but is remarkably placed vertically. Inside the circulation pipe, there is a turbine that brings the water flow up into the laboratory building, where flow measurements and experiments are conducted. Characteristic of this building is the visibility of technical details and the extreme color differentiation of both functional parts: the massive pipe, which can be seen between the columns as it ascends into a rectangular shape, is painted a striking shade of pink, while the box-like laboratory building radiates a rich blue, and the color contrast is emphasized by a green-painted chimney. The laboratory's blue metal-clad facade is segmented by narrow black-framed window strips. Another highlight of the building's technical nature is the exposed rivets.
The flow channel of the Institute of Water Engineering at the Berlin University of Technology is located in the Tiergarten district directly on the island surrounded by the Landwehrkanal (militia canal). Similar to the federal educational and research institute DLRG (German Life Saving Society), Ludwig Leo also started here from a functional assignment, from which the architectural form of the building subsequently evolved. The circulation pipe for flow tests is not, as is usual for buildings of this kind, horizontally positioned, but is remarkably placed vertically. Inside the circulation pipe, there is a turbine that brings the water flow up into the laboratory building, where flow measurements and experiments are conducted. Characteristic of this building is the visibility of technical details and the extreme color differentiation of both functional parts: the massive pipe, which can be seen between the columns as it ascends into a rectangular shape, is painted a striking shade of pink, while the box-like laboratory building radiates a rich blue, and the color contrast is emphasized by a green-painted chimney. The laboratory's blue metal-clad facade is segmented by narrow black-framed window strips. Another highlight of the building's technical nature is the exposed rivets.
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