Erfurt

 

In the end of March me and my boyfriend went on a weekend vacation with my family.
A city in the east of  Germany called Erfurt. It is about a 3-4 hours drive away from Hannover.

Erfurt has a beautiful old part of town, with lots of half-timbered houses and small streets, where cars are not allowed to drive where you can enjoy taking a long walk through the city, while enjoying the beautiful scenery of an intact typical old town of Germany.
Especially if you live in Hannover, where mostly all of the old town was destroyed during world war II, it is an eye-candy to see these houses which obtained such a horrible time.

Krämerbrücke (Krämer Bridge)

Believe it or not but the ‘Street’ in the picture above is actualle a bridge with houses on it. During the middle ages there were several bridges like the Krämerbrücke built in Europe – maybe the best known is the Rialto Bridge in Venice.
Most of the houses on the Krämer Bridge are used for little shops which sell unique things like blue pottery. The blue they use to color the pottery or even clothes is well known for this area of Germany – it is called ‘Waid’-Blue.

 

Krämerbrücke (Krämer Bridge)

 

Beautiful ornaments on the Facade of a House

Another very popular tourist attraction is the Cathedral of Erfurt. For me as an architecture student it was really amazing there, old sacral architecture has just something special.
It has the power to make you feel as small as a bug in just one second. And it makes you realize that hightech is not everything you need to create great, impressing architecture.

 

Portal Cathedral Erfurt

 

View from the Side Aisle to the Nave

Everytime I enter such an impressive old building with  so much focus on the details my head is full of questions.. How did they manage that heights and static and still it looks so pretty and massive in one? In my opinion those old master-builder and their helpers where real geniuses and still mostly we don’t know which great minds stand behind buildings like this cathedral or other extraordinary buildings all around the world.
Nowadays we talk about Le Corbusier, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, BIG and all the others. Of course they all are great in their special fields of architecture but I think we all can and should learn from those old master-builders from the past. They created architecture that already lasted for centuries and still make people speechless! Architecture that can touch people’s hearts, no matter what their religion or believes are. Architecture that connects people with each other on a higher level, where they share similar feelings without knowing or talking to each other.

Jakarta - Berlin

Since the end of April I’m in Indonesia again – doing an Internship at a construction site in Alam Sutra (close to Jakarta).
Of course I’m spending a lot of time in Alam Sutra, Jakarta, Sentul and Karawang.
I talked with friends and their families about the problems they have in the cities and other very obvious problems.
All these problems screaming at your face “Help!”
For helping or doing something against the excisting problems you need to understand the urban planning of the cities first.

How to understand the planning of a city? It’s simple nowadays.. use Google Maps!
You take two different cities, Zoom in the same scale, there you go: Compare the cities!

 

Jakarta (above) vs. Berlin

After looking at these two pictures I was quite shooked first… where did the free  (green) space in Jakarta go?! Both Zooms show an area of the city mostly used for living (houses or appartement houses), but in one case you have visible streets and GREEN space and in the other case you just see rooftops and asphalt!
So now to one problem in Jakarta: Every year Jakartas inhabitants suffer by floods. Not only 20 or 50cm, nooo… it’s getting way higher. How come? Look at the zooms and ask yourself; Where do you expect the water to go? How can the water be absorbed by the ground if everything is covered in asphalt? Does it in a mysterical way disappear? No it doesn’t. It certainly appears every year again in form of a brown, disgusting liquid full of rubbish in your neighbourhood or even in your house.

Maybe the normal citizen of Jakarta thinks that there is nothing he or she could do against it. Well actually there is (at least I think that there is something). In Indonesia it is more common to buy land or a house than renting something. So the ones buying a house or land do have a choice about the size of the house they are going to built. So Please if you want to make Jakarta a better place to life don’t  built your house on the whole land - Safe at least 1/3 for green space. Design a backyard or something in front of the house ( No Garage or parking space! That doesn’t count as green space!), not only will it absorb some water but also your children will love to play outside and you don’t have to worry about them playing on the street!

Maybe this post will make you think about what you want and what you could change in your life for making an incredible city like Jakarta a better place to life!
Of course  this also works for other cities with flood problems and too much builded space.

~ Together for a more habitable and even more incredible Jakarta!! ~

Amsterdam – A City Full Of Surprises

In the beginning of March some friends, my boyfriend and I went on a weekend vacation to Amsterdam, Netherlands.
It’s not that far away from Hanover – a 4,5hours trainride. So after work we took the train, just on time for Dinner we arrived in Amsterdam.
First thing I remember after stepping out of the train – the persistant smell of weed.. No kidding, this city screams at you “Marihuana is legal here!!”
…Well, back to the important things of life: FOOD!
Until 1945 Indonesia was a colony of the Netherlands. For centuries the Netherlands were able to eat delicious, spicy food. After Indonesia got independet they couldn’t life without these wonderful tastes so, at least Amsterdam, has a bunch of Indonesian Restaurants and Foodstores.
A little Paradise for the Hanoveraner – Hannover has not one single Indonesian Restaurant!
First Stop: Sampurna Restaurant close to the tulip market.
We didn’t know about the very high prizes there, especially the drinks: 4,5€ for one Bintang and 7,5€ for one ‘Cendol’ Drink. Whatever, the food was okay. Nothing special, if you are used to eat Indonesian food in Indonesia

After that surprisingly expensive Meal we head to the Red-Light-District. It was quite fun there, seeing all these young and some old women and men dressed like women shaking there butts and boobs for random people. All of it next to the Coffee-Shops with its high customers.
A whole new interesting world in which I couldn’t live -  Too much weed, too much tourism, too much people high on drugs…

Red-Light-District during Daylight

Back to the beauty of Amsterdam… there is still so much old architecture.. it’s amazing how nearly every big city in Europe has its own unique architecture. The canals in Amsterdam make sure you can explore these architecture in many different ways – from a boat or from a brigde. Every angle gives you a different new perspective. You can see details you’re not able to see if you’re just standing in front of a house.

One of the many Canals in Amsterdam

Some Backyard

Kinda crooked Town House..hehe

House Boats are very popular in Amsterdam

If you search for a very outstanding impression you have to visit the Anne-Frank-Museum. Next to a heartbreaking story about a jewish girl and her brilliant thoughts about people and the world, a history nearly no one in Germany is proud of and the cruelty human kind is able to do to its own species you can learn more about the traditional houses in old Amsterdam. The arrangement and the size of the rooms, the staircases and so on.
You’re not allowed to take pictures inside the Musem, but I guarantee you it is worth a visit!

Spring Is Coming Back

 

Sooo… after a not very cold Winter it seems like spring is coming back to Hannover…
Last week I went to my grandpa’s house, he has a big garden. When I arrived there I was surprised how  many flowers there were…

I hope that it really  is the beginning of spring.. Last year in the end of March it was still snowing… So the chances that it might be snowing again is quite high….
But now everything seems to prepare for a wonderful spring…
Flower blossom everywhere, the birds are coming back, the sky is blue and the sun is shining…. the smell of spring is in the air…
Let’s see how it turns out

Urbanism–Copenhagen

Four weeks ago I went on a study trip to Copenhagen.
It’s the second time I went to this beautiful city.
To be honest a lot has changed during the last two years.
There are lots of new builings spreading everywhere, new districts are build etc.
We walked all over Copenhagen to see all this newly-build hotels, offices, appartements, residence halls and urban spaces. Of course it was very tiring walking on and on; but it was worth the pain!
We actually had guided tours in “The Crystal” – an office from Nykredit, the SAS Royal Hotel and the Tietgencollegium.

I really was amazed by the Tietgencollegium! It looked very comfortable – they even have rooms for couples! Actually it’s just bigger than the normal rooms (about 48m² – it’s actually bigger than my appartement. And I have the kitchen included!). The ground floors are used for bikes, mailboxes, washing machines, music rooms, handcraft rooms etc. So nearly everything is available in this “little” complex of houses forming a circle with a yard in the middle.
It is really another way of organising and designing residence halls! I’m very impressed by this work!

Tietgencollegium

The SAS Royal Hotel was designed by Arne Jacobsen. Build from 1956 to 1960 it needed to be renovated in the 1990s.
Arne Jacobsen did not only designed the building, but also the rooms, the restaurant and the furniture! After it’s renovation the kept one original room deigned by Jacobsen – No. 606 on the 6th floor. It looks very different from teh renovated ones and has its own charme from the 60s.
Even though the Hotel is renovated you can find Arne Jacobsen everywhere. His furniture – especially the chairs are giving you a warm welcome while entering the Lobby.

First Floor

Room 606

Restaurant on 20th Floor