Assignment 02 - Individual Design
Kids' Garden

The Kids' Garden is located in Neuköln, on Hobrechtstrasse. It is used for gardening, arts activities for neighborhood children and for cultural events. It is a narrow rectangular space enclosed within two tall metal gates facing the streets. The gates have portholes which can be used to view activities both on the street and inside of the garden, depending on the viewer's position. For my intervention I chose to create a temporary installation upon the site: a secret garden for the neighborhood. This would be a space activated by different activities which are dependent upon the time of day the site is used: daytime for children's activities such as gardening and art projects and nighttime for adult activities such as gallery space or film events. I began by using a module taken from a chemical formula derived from a process found in nature, as this is an organic space within the neighborhood. The module consisted of three components which create a looping system within the narrow space. When placed together, the components of the module form a terraced garden space which could be used by the children for planting activities or for climbing surfaces. In between the loops or under the loops created by the space, pockets are created which the children could utilize for arts activities. At night, adults could re-appropriate these pockets when they return to the space to participate in gallery events or for films to be
projected either upon the loops or upon the enclosing walls. Covering the space from the top is a mesh lighting system whose primary function is to act as a beacon to direct those who live in the neighborhood toward the secret garden.

Assignment 01 - Historical Research
Embassy Row Background and Mexican Embassy

Diplomatic Quarter Background:
The Huguenots settled in the area south of Tiergarten Park around 1685. Afterwards the land was acquired by wealthy Berlin citizens who built country houses there. Members of Berlin's middle class then moved in increasing numbers to what was known as Friedrichstadt and where they built villas. Around the turn of the century, more embassies relocated to the area from traditional embassy sites near the Reichstag, unter den Linden and Wilhelmstrasse. By the 1930's it became known as the diplomatic quarter. On March 19, 1938, the Nazis incorporated it in their plans for the “world capital of Germania”. Albert Speers General Building Inspectorate erected monumental style residences for the Axis powers Italy and Japan on the Tiergartenstrasse from 1938 onward. During WWII the diplomatic quarter was largely reduced to rubble.

Mexican Embassy
The Mexican Embassy was built in 2000, and was designed by architects Teodoro Gonzales de Leon and Francisco Serrano Cacho. They were selected via a competition among 8 architects. Their intent was to design a Mexican style building while adhering to the urban regulations of the site. The building's form suggests both solidity and transparency, and creates a monumentality, lightness and transparency game while attempting to express the Mexican country of today: a young country with many ancient cultures. The outside layers of the facade are formed by 40 vertical slanting concrete elements which create the impression of a slatted curtain.
Behind the facade is a cylindrical atrium which was designed in homage to a Mayan observatory, the America's first cylindrical construction. The atrium is 14 meters in diameter and 18 meters high. The surprise for the visitor is a great hall located inside the cylindrical atrium, which is in a partial cantilever over an interior garden. The chiseled white concrete used for the entire building was developed by the architects and was imported from Mexico to Berlin. The building also doubles as a cultural institute for Mexico.

Assignment 02 - Individual Design
Kids' Garden

The Kids' Garden is located in Neuköln, on Hobrechtstrasse. It is used for gardening, arts activities for neighborhood children and for cultural events. It is a narrow rectangular space enclosed within two tall metal gates facing the streets. The gates have portholes which can be used to view activities both on the street and inside of the garden, depending on the viewer's position. For my intervention I chose to create a temporary installation upon the site: a secret garden for the neighborhood. This would be a space activated by different activities which are dependent upon the time of day the site is used: daytime for children's activities such as gardening and art projects and nighttime for adult activities such as gallery space or film events. I began by using a module taken from a chemical formula derived from a process found in nature, as this is an organic space within the neighborhood. The module consisted of three components which create a looping system within the narrow space. When placed together, the components of the module form a terraced garden space which could be used by the children for planting activities or for climbing surfaces. In between the loops or under the loops created by the space, pockets are created which the children could utilize for arts activities. At night, adults could re-appropriate these pockets when they return to the space to participate in gallery events or for films to be
projected either upon the loops or upon the enclosing walls. Covering the space from the top is a mesh lighting system whose primary function is to act as a beacon to direct those who live in the neighborhood toward the secret garden.

Assignment 01 - Historical Research
Embassy Row Background and Mexican Embassy

Diplomatic Quarter Background:
The Huguenots settled in the area south of Tiergarten Park around 1685. Afterwards the land was acquired by wealthy Berlin citizens who built country houses there. Members of Berlin's middle class then moved in increasing numbers to what was known as Friedrichstadt and where they built villas. Around the turn of the century, more embassies relocated to the area from traditional embassy sites near the Reichstag, unter den Linden and Wilhelmstrasse. By the 1930's it became known as the diplomatic quarter. On March 19, 1938, the Nazis incorporated it in their plans for the “world capital of Germania”. Albert Speers General Building Inspectorate erected monumental style residences for the Axis powers Italy and Japan on the Tiergartenstrasse from 1938 onward. During WWII the diplomatic quarter was largely reduced to rubble.

Mexican Embassy
The Mexican Embassy was built in 2000, and was designed by architects Teodoro Gonzales de Leon and Francisco Serrano Cacho. They were selected via a competition among 8 architects. Their intent was to design a Mexican style building while adhering to the urban regulations of the site. The building's form suggests both solidity and transparency, and creates a monumentality, lightness and transparency game while attempting to express the Mexican country of today: a young country with many ancient cultures. The outside layers of the facade are formed by 40 vertical slanting concrete elements which create the impression of a slatted curtain.
Behind the facade is a cylindrical atrium which was designed in homage to a Mayan observatory, the America's first cylindrical construction. The atrium is 14 meters in diameter and 18 meters high. The surprise for the visitor is a great hall located inside the cylindrical atrium, which is in a partial cantilever over an interior garden. The chiseled white concrete used for the entire building was developed by the architects and was imported from Mexico to Berlin. The building also doubles as a cultural institute for Mexico.