Discussion

The "Grey Louse" with ARCH+: On Urban Development [German]

Discussion and tour with Niklas Fanelsa (architect) and Florian Heilmeyer (architectural journalist/curator)

The site where the tower blocks at Wassertorplatz now stand was once occupied by simple residential buildings from the Gründerzeit period. Even the local pub Zur Grauen Laus (The Grey Louse), which inspired the building’s nickname among Berliners, had to make way for the new flats designed by Werner Düttmann in 1968–1970. The architect built around 1,300 residential units in this area of Kreuzberg as part of urban redevelopment measures. Niklas Fanelsa, who rents one of the commercial spaces on the ground floor for his practice Atelier Fanelsa, will lead a tour of the neighbourhood together with Florian Heilmeyer, who recently published a short history of urban development around Ritterstrasse in ARCH+.

Niklas Fanelsa and his practice Atelier Fanelsa examine contemporary forms of living, working and community creation in the countryside, the city, and the periphery. In doing so they realise private construction projects, public buildings, workshops and exhibitions. In 2019–20, Fanelsa was the emerging curator at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montréal.

Florian Heilmeyer is an architectural journalist and curator in Berlin. He is a correspondent for Werk, Bauen + Wohnen (Switzerland) and Metropolis (USA) and writes regularly for organisations such as baunetz.de and Baumeister.


This series of events was conceived and organised in cooperation with the magazine ARCH+.

Due to the limited number of participants, we kindly ask you to register for this event. You can register online here on the exhibition website wernerduettmann.de two weeks before the event.

Note: The current distance and hygiene regulations apply, as well as a general mask obligation. The obligation to test is waived.

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