Back to the future?

Karl Friedhelm Fisher from the University of Kassel School of Architecture raised the question about the extent to which lost buildings and neighbourhoods should be reconstructed in their original form. He warned against creating ‘disneylands’ which might please the tourists but was artificial.

He cited the example in Berlin where the original City Palace was to be recreated on the site of the Palast der Republik, which the East German government had built. The city authorities did not have clear drawings for the original palace, nor did they have a clear use for it. The royal palace of Braunschweig (Brunswick) was bombed in World War II and demolished in 1960. The exterior was rebuilt to contain a palace museum and shopping centre. In some places in Germany, contemporary architecture was successfully being introduced into historic neighbourhoods but it respected the original structures.