B.Z. article from 16.11.2007
Text: Oliver Ohmann; photos: Thierlein, Geisler, PR, Manuel Graubner, picture-alliance/dpa, UPI
20 Halensee
Meditation University
In 2007 the American film director David Lynch came to Berlin to set up the “University of an Invincible Germany” on the Teufelsberg. The university would offer several thousand students transcendental meditation as a basic discipline alongside traditional subjects. The Maharishi Foundation of World Peace did indeed succeed in acquiring a five-hectare property on the Teufelsberg, the former site of the American and British listening post in the Grunewald, for this project.
Planning had already reached an advanced stage, an application had been made for building consent, and the foundation stone had been laid by Lynch personally. The university would include two storeys with large assembly halls, above which a 50-metre tower with ten floors would rise. However, at the public unveiling of the project both Lynch and the guru Raja Emanuel Schiffgens met with strong protests. Critics warned of sect-like structures and the risks associated with these. Ultimately the relevant authority rejected the building application. The grounds it cited were that the Teufelsberg had returned to green belt status since 2005 and, as a consequence, no construction of any kind was permitted there.
Foundation stone laying on Teufelsberg, 2007
© Manuel Graubner
B.Z. article from 16.11.2007
Text: Oliver Ohmann; photos: Thierlein, Geisler, PR, Manuel Graubner, picture-alliance/dpa, UPI
For What If Berlin, Akira Takayama transposes unrealised projects from the archives of the Berliner Festspiele and other Berlin cultural institutions, as well as from architects and artists, into the present and asks us which vision we want to realise in the future.
The future vision for the project Meditation University, that will be presented in the frame of What If Berlin from 28 August 2026 onwards, will respond to the following question: What if Berlin created a spiral meditation path on Teufelsberg?
Which of the 27 visions for the future is the most exciting? Which project does Berlin need in future? Which idea should actually be realised?
Until 30 September 2026, you can vote for up to three of the 27 visions for the future. The results will be displayed live to give the latest impression of the public’s reactions.