Design for the Federal Ribbon
Design: Axel Schultes, Charlotte Frank
13 Tempelhof
Citizens’ Forum
In 1993 the architects Axel Schultes and Charlotte Frank won the planning competition for the Band des Bundes (Federal Ribbon) – the new government quarter to be built on the Spree in Berlin-Tiergarten. Their design envisaged a chain of buildings that would link the former East and West parts of the city through bridges over the Spree, at the same time cutting across Albert Speer’s North-South corridor. The majority of the buildings planned in this design were indeed built – the Federal Chancellery, the Paul-Löbe-Haus and the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus.
However, the plans also included a Citizens’ Forum that was to occupy the central area between the Federal Chancellery and the Paul-Löbbe-Haus, thereby connecting the legislative body with the executive opposite: as a place where the citizens of the city could meet – complete with cafés, spaces for discussion and a “piazza”. To this day the reasons why this was not implemented remain as complex as they are controversial. According to politicians and administrators, the main focus was on the North-South road network that is heavily used now, and high costs such as security concerns would also have been a problem. It was also the wish of the Federal Chancellor at the time, Helmut Kohl, that the Chancellery should not be integrated directly into a complex of buildings, but should be built as a standalone structure with large open spaces for ceremonial occasions – with an unobstructed view of the Reichstag, in order to do justice to its importance.
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 Citizens’ Forum, 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 renamed Tempelhof station?
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.