| dc.description.abstract | In the wake of World War II, reconstruction of destroyed Berlin was the most important task for Germany’s occupying powers, the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. Corresponding to the heightening tensions of the Cold War, reconstruction of Berlin also asserted an ideological purpose, as new architecture was paired with new ideology. This thesis presents the significance of Berlin as an architectural “showdown city” between the Soviet Union and the West, and analyzes the following research question: to what extent does Berlin’s architectural development of main urban avenues, architectural centerpieces, and residential architecture during the Cold War reflect the polarized ideological dichotomy between the Soviet Union and the West? In each of these arenas, architectural design mirrored the Cold War’s competition between East and West, as this analysis juxtaposes Kurfurstendamm, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtnis-Kirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church), and Hansaviertel in West Berlin to East Berlin’s Stalinallee, Fernsehturm (television tower), Marzahn, and Hellersdorf. With stark stylistic differences and overt ideological associations, both East and West Berlin mediated common urban circumstances of the post-World War II era, leaving an architectural legacy still visible in Berlin today. | |
