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The first underground stations in the cosmopolitan metropolises at the
close of the 19th century were for the most part unified standard designs,
such as those that still exist in London, Paris and New York today. Conversely,
from the outset, plans for underground stations in Berlin have largely
been subject to the architectural trends of the period when they were built.
Hence, for the practised observer, a ride on the Berlin underground is
a journey though the history of architecture. Stations along the routes
built up to 1930 are characterised by industrial architecture, Art Nouveau,
histor-ism and new functionalism. After a twenty-year interruption,
the underground network in the western part of the city was extended in
1953. The first stage was the extension of the U6 to the terminus at Alt-Tegel,
followed by the U9 from Leopoldplatz to Spichernstraße. As in the
past, the station buildings were an expression of the architecture and
design of their time: with trapeze supports and curved "butterfly ceilings",
they represent the era of kidney-shaped coffee tables. The classics of
this period are the Kurfürstendamm and Hansaplatz stations, designed
by Bruno Grimmek. From the early sixties, the architectural design
of the underground was in the hands of the Senate architect Rainer
G. Rümmler. These years were shaped by technical functionalism, with
a standardised simplicity that is unsurpassable. This can still be
admired today on the section of the U7 from Blaschkoallee to Zwickauer
Damm and on the U6 from Alt-Tempelhof to Alt-Mariendorf. From the
seventies onwards, with increasing demand and state funding, a prestige
archi- tecture developed that initially reflected the Pop Art typical of
the time. Examples among the underground stations portrayed here
include Fehrbelliner Platz on the U7, and Schlossstraße and Rathaus
Steglitz on the U9. In the early eighties, Paulsternstraße
and the monumental station Rathaus Spandau on the U7 were both constructed
in the style of the postmodern era. These two stations in the West
are contrasted by the simple concrete stations from the final era of the
GDR on the last section of the U5 to Hönow.
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