Architecture of Olympiapark in Berlin - 1040 Words

Part 1: Description of This Building Olympiapark is a Postmodern collection of buildings located in Munich, Germany and was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Olympiapark consists of 4 main areas: Olympic area, village, media city, and park. The main focus of my paper is on Olympic Stadium which is pictured above. The design for Olympiapark was chosen through a national competition that was won by the German architect Gà ¼nter Behnisch’s design company Behnisch und Partner. The 1 square mile area where Olympiapark was built at that time was known as Oberwiesenfeld (‘upper meadow-field’). Oberwiesenfeld before that was a dumping area for World War II debris and a landing strip. The area was designed to ‘be green’ and to make use of†¦show more content†¦Only 30 years before Olympiapark was built Germany hosted the Olympics under Nazi control and the buildings were strong and almost ‘harsh’ portraying the Nazi people as a su perior and dominating group of people. â€Å"His idea was that the Park was to be a total contrast to the previous bombastic architecture of the 1936 Nazi Olympics, with modern buildings helping to create an atmosphere of egalitarianism and freedom† (Childs 2010). I agree with both commentaries on the Olympiapark. These buildings were not only beautiful in design but had a purpose and came to bring the German people up from a devastating war and reputation. I myself have family in Germany and this is one piece of architecture that is easily recognized by most Germans. It not only revolutionized architecture in Germany but revitalized the people of Germany. Part 4: Why This Building Appeals to Me I chose this building for multiple reasons, the most important being I really appreciate Gà ¼nter Behnisch’s work. His buildings, my favorite being the Bundehaus in Bonn, are simple but very symbolic. To him, a building is more than just material and a blue print. Olympiapark was a futuristic building that was built on the grounds where only years before, lay the infrastructure that was destroyed during World War II. Olympiapark was built to represent the German people as free-thinking and liberated from the axial and rigid structure of the