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OASE 77 - 71 Why Berlin S Holocaust Memorial Is Such A Popular Playground
OASE 77 - 71 Why Berlin S Holocaust Memorial Is Such A Popular Playground
HOLOCAUSTMONUMENT
IN BERLIJN ZO’N GELIEFD
SPEELTERREIN IS
Quentin Stevens
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
caustmonument
voor de vermoorde
Europese joden,
Berlijn / Playful
public behaviour
PLAYGROUND
Quentin Stevens
selves as individuals, and they test and comfort – also tend to support
the limits of what public spaces can expansion of playful possibility, and
offer rather than merely receiving not only predetermined, restricted
spaces as designers intend. notions of function.
Opened 2005, Peter Eisenman’s
Memorial to the Murdered Jews ACCESS AND CONTROL Play is
of Europe is a two-hectare field of enhanced by freeing up movement,
2,711 concrete stelae (pillars) in to increase the diversity of objects,
central Berlin. This large, prominent actors and audiences brought to-
and often busy memorial provides gether in public spaces. The effort
an interesting case for studying required to access and ‘use’ the
the usefulness of public spaces. MMJE is minimal. The site overlaps
Much has been written about the its surroundings and always remains
MMJE concerning the politics of its open; its entire perimeter is perme-
creation and its abstract aesthetics. able. Many stelae near the footpath
Little has been said about how visi- are at comfortable heights for sit-
tors have appropriated this setting ting or leaning. The flat waist-high
for many unanticipated activities. tops of other stelae allow people to
This paper examines playful uses leave objects: stones and flowers
of the MMJE, in relation to broad in traditional remembrance, but
questions about the ‘function’ also resting bags, bottles and cam-
of public spaces and design’s eras. An art student appropriated
potential to constrain and facilitate several stelae as worktables. The
behaviour. The MMJE lacks clear stelae rise incrementally towards
symbolism and obvious function; the centre; they appear as manage-
it invites free interpretation. Most able steps, so people naturally walk
visitors here do not contemplate up them. Narrow spacings allow
mournfully. Playful visitor behav- even children to jump between
iour at the MMJE illustrates how stele, testing and developing their
four fundamental aspects of urban capacities. The continuous ground
design functionality – control, vis- plane, designed to accommodate
ibility, density and mix of activity, wheelchairs, also accommodates
the vertigo of cycling along aisles. meet their needs to see and be Speels publiek
gedrag bij Peter
The memorial’s location, between seen. People step up onto stelae to Eisenman’s Holo-
the Tiergarten and the tourist at- perform, pose for photographs, or caustmonument
voor de vermoorde
tractions and workplaces of Mitte, obtain vantage points for observ- Europese joden,
the parliament and Potsdamer ing the field and other visitors. The Berlijn / Playful
public behaviour
Platz, attracts a diversity of poten- memorial’s dark, blank, repetitive at Peter Eisenman’s
Memorial to the
tial users, many of whom only pass forms foreground visitor’s actions. Murdered Jews of
the site incidentally, unaware of The stelae’s rise toward the centre Europe, Berlin
its intended purpose. The MMJE’s makes climbing visitors highly vis-
display of stelae at ground level ible to passers-by. Security staff
near the footpath, without barriers, only patrol the perimeter, and act
allows detailed study and touching only to prevent dangerous uses,
by bodies and hands. People test not uses which are merely undesir-
their agility and strength against able. Their formal surveillance is
stelae of varying heights. The restricted by the site’s large scale.
stelae’s great multiplicity provides Even when guards notice illicit
many targets for play, and supports play, it takes time for them to move
many activities which would be within earshot to reprimand people.
impossible with just one column or The darkened, hidden interior
row, or uniform shapes: stepping between the tall stelae remains
or jumping between their tops, unpoliced: a vertiginous escape
climbing up by wedging one’s body from the everyday. It is here young
between pairs of stelae, playing tag people run, scream, smoke and
among the rows. kiss as they please.
Speels publiek 4 sure. It gets darker; the field of axes are suddenly and unexpectedly
gedrag bij Peter Peter Eisenman,
Eisenman’s Holo- personal interview, view narrows, until one is buried encountered up close. People gaze
caustmonument 18 August 2005. within. The rolling ground surface from above, stepping over one’s
voor de vermoorde
Europese joden, engages visitors’ bodies; rather head. Such intense bodily experi-
5
Berlijn / Playful
Jan Gehl, Life Between than remaining a neutral, functional ences compromise opportunities
public behaviour
at Peter Eisenman’s Buildings (New York: surface, it makes them conscious of for passive, solemn contemplation
Memorial to the Van Nostrand Reinhold,
Murdered Jews of 1987).
their motions. Skewed stelae loom typically associated with memori-
Europe, Berlin overhead. The aisles are too narrow als. Other visitors’ play encourages
to walk abreast: people are forced simulation. The many parallel aisles
to separate. Eisenman intended and the tops of rows of adjacent
this memorial to induce claustro- stelae provide parallel settings
phobia, disorientation, isolation, where visitors can copy or compete
confinement and unsteadiness: with others, leaping between stelae,
sublime, discomforting sensations patting concrete surfaces, running,
which might shock visitors, and shouting.
cause them to reflect on similar
experiences of Holocaust victims.4 COMFORT Comfortable environ-
Without moral guidance, such ments are more likely to be places
direct sensory arousal often instead where people play, because they
stimulates play. Visitors pose for have a choice about where they
photographs with only their heads spend their free time.5 Although
projecting from the concrete mass, the MMJE’s stelae are hard, angular
simulating ‘drowning’. They test concrete, people can lean against,
the acoustics by yelling; they play sit on, and lie on them in many
hide-and-seek; they wander and ways to optimise their comfort. The
try to get lost. They run along the stelae’s smoothness and regular-
undulating pathways. They enjoy ity welcomes the grip of hands
the vertigo of climbing and jumping and feet; their solidity provides
across chasms. The many other vis- resistance for climbing. The ther-
itors also provide stimulation. The mal mass of concrete also offers
narrow aisles leave little room for comfort: visitors lie sunbathing on
passing. People moving on cross- stelae, or sit in their cool shadows.
The memorial shelters visitors from tions or bodily postures, this memo- 6
Karen A. Franck and
potentially irritating sun and wind. rial’s abstract simplicity maximises Quentin Stevens (eds.),
The site’s large scale sets it apart usefulness. The expansive, complex Loose Space: Possibil-
from everyday space. Sounds and field of stele enables a wide range ity and Diversity in
Urban Life (Abingdon:
views grow fainter as one moves of secondary, unplanned, yet-to- Routledge, 2006).
deeper among the concrete mass- be-discovered uses. Its loose fit
es; muting the surrounding city. accommodates visitors’ varied
The memorial’s size and its many poses, actions and interests, and
circulation aisles mean visitors their varying enthusiasm for risk.6
can play and observe but control The MMJE illustrates ways public
their exposure to strangers, keep- spaces can promote freedom and
ing their anonymity or remaining variety of public action well beyond
completely discreet. The actions any narrow definitions of function
of visitors to conventional, explicit or meaning. The planning princi-
memorials are constrained by the ples that generally support a vital
etiquette and rituals of remem- public realm – providing multiple
brance. But many visitors do not attractors, density, mixed activities
comprehend the MMJE’s purpose; and permeability; opportunities
what this illegible object encourag- for seeing and being seen; sensory
es is playful exploration of material comfort and stimulation; and giv-
conditions. Eisenman consciously ing users choice and control – also
shunned making a representational turn out to support many forms of
memorial like Rodin’s Burghers of play at the MMJE; some benign,
Calais, ‘looking all weepy’, instruct- some contentious. Observations
ing the onlooker how they should emphasise that people’s experi-
feel and act. Here, visitors make ence of places are not always
their own judgments about risk and instrumental and serious, but often
safety, possible actions, morally exploratory and whimsical. Users
right and wrong behaviour. keep discovering and inventing
new playful possibilities for places.
CONCLUSION Not having been Design cannot necessarily enable
designed to suit particular func- or prevent play. Encouragement to