Hitler's Stadium is propaganda in stone . The architectural language was intended to forge a link with the past through the monumentality of the architecture and the explicit links with the architectural traditions of the last great empires - Greece and Rome. It was intended to show the direct precedents to the German Reich and the legitimacy of National Socialist power. It's location on top of a hill brings immediate parallels with the acropolis and other classical monuments. It was built to look as though it has always been there and thus to 'show' that the National Socialists were always destined to be in power in Germany.
Hitler's Olympic Stadium and Le Corbusier's Unité It's late afternoon on a Sunday in July and I'm on the flight path from Düsseldorf to Berlin Tegel (the old West Berlin airport and the central draw of the 'hole in the East' for potential escapees). On the route in, the city presents itself in all its glory due to the central location of the airport. The three monuments of the city that are thrust into view are the ever-present TV tower at Alexanderplatz - a monument to Communist engineering and technology and a constant navigation point within the city . The other two are nestled in the woods due West of Brandenbürger Tor; Werner March's Olympic Stadium (1934-36) and Le Corbusier's Unité (1957) - built for the West Berlin Hansaviertal competition. Hitler's Stadium is propaganda in stone . The architectural language was intended to forge a link with the past through the monumentality of the architecture and the explicit links with the architectural traditions of the last great empires - Greece and Rome. It was intended to show the direct precedents to the German Reich and the legitimacy of National Socialist power. It's location on top of a hill brings immediate parallels with the acropolis and other classical monuments. It was built to look as though it has always been there and thus to 'show' that the National Socialists were always destined to be in power in Germany. Initially, the two projects appear to be at opposite ends of the architectural spectrum, but both were intended as propaganda pieces. Both the National Socialists and Le Corbusier were creating buildings for an ideal human being which only existed in their own minds' eye. As such the way they appear nestled together amongst the woods on arrival provides the perfect architectural opener to the city of Berlin.
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