SPACE November 2024 (No. 684)
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / ©Matti Blume
Project Tempelhof Feld
Location Tempelhofer Damm 12101, Berlin, Germany
Site area 3,801,652m2
Airport completion 1923 (completion), 1941 (expansion)
Park opening 2010 –
Image courtesy of Tempelhof Projekt GmbH / ©Claudius Pflug
1923 Tempelhof Airport completed
1941 Tempelhof Airport expanded under the Nazi regime
2008 Decision made to close Tempelhof Airport
2010 Opened to the public as a park
Sep. 2010 Berlin City announces a master plan to leave 75% of the space open and develop 25% for residential, commercial, and public library use
Apr. 2011 A collaboration between GROSS. MAX (landscape) + Sutherland Hussey Architects (architecture) wins the master plan competition
2014 A public referendum, led by the citizens’ group ‘100% Tempelhof Feld’, votes to preserve the entire park as a park, with a majority vote in favour
2024 Berlin City announces plans to develop Tempelhof Feld for residential use
2024 ‘100% Tempelhof Feld’ begins collecting signatures for a petition to designate Tempelhof Feld as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
2026 Berlin City plans to hold a design competition for residential use
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / ©A.fiedler
Citizens Who Took Part in The Competition, Citizens Who Supported Preservation
Since its completion in 1923, Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport served as a terminal. And during the Nazi regime, it was expanded using forced labour and even functioned as a labour camp. After it closed down, the airport was transformed into a park in 2010, and it’s now larger than New York’s Central Park by 100,000 pyeong. When Central Park was completed in 1876, there was pushback from those who believed housing development would be a more suitable use of the space. The idea that a large, empty space in a city should be developed isn’t unique to New York—it applies to Berlin, too.
Tempelhof Airport has long been a battleground between development and preservation. Citing the city’s housing shortage, Berlin City proposed that 75% of the park remain as open space, while 25% be developed for residential, commercial, and public library use. To make this a reality, they held an international master plan competition in 2011, and alongside the competition, they invited citizen participation through idea submissions, mail surveys, exhibitions, and forums. The winning design was a collaboration between landscape architects and architects that aimed to strike a balance between preservation and development pressures by implying that housing along the park’s edges. However, the plan was scrapped in 2014, following public opposition. The citizens’ group ‘100% Tempelhof Feld’ led a referendum to keep the park in its entirety as green space, and the majority of citizens voted in favour. According to the group, Tempelhof Feld is a crucial natural habitat for several species, including those at risk of extinction. It’s also a unique urban space where people of different political views, identities, and social classes can carve out their own domain while remaining visually connected. They argued that the main reason for pushing housing development was the park’s relatively low land value, which offered high returns for investors. Despite the lower land prices, proposed rents for this housing were no different from surrounding areas, raising suspicions about the true purpose of the development.
Now, 10 years after the referendum, the city is once again pushing for development, while the citizens’ group is gathering signatures to petition for the park’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city government has opened new avenues for public feedback, but the group remains critical, saying that these efforts are merely for show and that the city’s plans are already set in stone.
Tempelhof Feld’s preservation owes much to the active participation of citizens. However, as their voices have grown louder, so too have the development pressures, becoming more nuanced and strategic. Today’s Tempelhof Feld is the result of citizens rejecting the limited options presented to them when 75% of the park was to be preserved. Had they accepted those constraints as the full extent of their rights, they might have played their role within that narrow framework. This brings to mind Mark Fisher’s words: ‘Capitalism has colonised our social imagination almost entirely.’▼1
A Venue for Diverse Events
The Tempelhof Projekt GmbH, which was established in 2014 as part of the Tempelhof Airport master plan, has since scaled down its role and is now responsible for maintaining the aging buildings and managing the park. The 1.2km semicircular building, including its four hangars, is used for events, and since 2016, part of the space has served as a shelter for Syrian refugees. The old runways in the park have been repurposed for activities like cycling and scooters, and occasionally, large events like Formula E races or kite festivals are held. The park’s programmes are designed to be as flexible and temporary as possible. Tempelhof Projekt GmbH’s policy of ‘not using buildings for a single function’ suggests that they resist using the space for exclusive or narrowly defined purposes.
A space filled with such diverse potential could easily be curated into a complex cultural center by planners, but it also remains open to what the open land itself can offer. Just as a labour camp from 70 years ago has now become a safe haven for Syrian refugees, Berlin’s vacant parkland continues to embrace roles that only it can fulfill, adapting to the times and circumstances.
1 Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, Goyang: luciole, 2018.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / ©Karlunun
