2 November 2025 |
Image: Gemeindezentrum Apostel Johannes photographed by Dr. Felix Torkar.
Illuminated by history, hosting ghosts of the city’s complicated past, Berlin’s architectural landscape is so dense — so rich with intrigue — that unveiling its highlights can be an overwhelming task. Thankfully, Blue Crow Media’s Brutalist Berlin Map has provided an expertly curated guide to the city’s Brutalist buildings since its publication in 2021, alongside other offerings from the publisher that include Berlin U-Bahn Architecture & Design Map and Modern Berlin Map.
Image: Isothermische Kugellabore photographed by Dr. Felix Torkar.
Derek Lamberton, founder of Blue Crow Media, is driven by a passion for documenting Brutalist architecture; something he has made a collaborative affair by teaming up with numerous photographers and writers to publish maps that celebrate concrete construction in both London and New York, as well as Berlin. Most recently, he has reunited with Berlin-based architectural historian Dr. Felix Torkar — the photographer and writer behind the original map — to publish a new book: Brutalist Berlin. An expansion of the map, the book is an in-depth guide that spotlights more than 50 buildings across the city and offers an authoritative portrait of Berlin’s Brutalist heritage.
Image: Turmrestaurant Steglitz Bierpinsel photographed by Dr. Felix Torkar.
“Berlin was the hotspot of the Cold War conflict,” says Torkar, reflecting on how the convergence of politics and architecture has shaped the city’s skyline. He continues, “It was this fulcrum point where East and West Berlin came face-to-face, trying desperately hard to prove that their system was the superior one through iconic, signature architecture construction projects. East Berlin went more the socialist Modernism route, which is a little more airy and transparent and plastered, whereas West Berlin went a bit different with a lot of experiments, and a lot of Brutalist experiments.”
Lamberton adds, “The idea of building an opera house to stick it to the Soviets… It’s so bonkers. And getting star architects involved from around the world has resulted in these really remarkable buildings.”
Image: Zentrale Tierlaboratorien (“Mäusebunker”) photographed by Dr. Felix Torkar.
The Zentrale Tierlaboratorien (Central Animal Labs), more commonly known as the “Mäusebunker”, is both Lamberton and Torkar’s favourite buildings from the map and book. Built between 1968 and 1981, it was designed by Gerd Hanska, Magdalena Hänska and Kurt Schmersow as the experimental arm for medical research at the Freie Universität Berlin, together with the adjacent Hygieneinstitut and the Benjamin Franklin Hospital, which are also featured in the book. The Mäusebunker had to be designed around specific and exceptionally technical requirements, and while it is a stellar example of highly-functional architecture, it also assumes a spectacularly unique, sculptural form.
“I’ve published around 65 maps at this point, which is nuts — it’s an odd thing to have done in one’s life,” laughs Lamberton. Reflecting on facets of his own curiosity that can be found in Brutalist Berlin, he continues, “I find myself increasingly interested in the post-war churches, and this idea that here was still an expectation that people would be going to church, and that they’d be attracted to go to church with modernist architecture. There’s something there that just doesn’t add up to me.”
Image: St.-Agnes-Kirche photographed by Dr. Felix Torkar.
Kreuzberg’s St.-Agnes-Kirche (St Agnes Church) was first designed by Werner Duttmann and was built between 1965 and 1967. Pursuing renewed purpose in the modern world, it was remodelled by Brandlhuber + Emde, Burlon und Riegler Riewe Architekten between 2011 and 2015 and is today home to a prominent commercial art gallery — the owner of which commissioned the reimagining of the building. While its cavernous interior has held works by some of the world’s most talked about artists, it is the building’s architectural form, first imagined more than half a century ago, that keeps this particular gallery location at the front of people’s minds.
Image: Parkhaus und Wohnanlage photographed by Dr. Felix Torkar.
One thing Lamberton and Torkar’s new book makes abundantly clear is the importance of looking up. The Peter Heinrichs and Joachim Wermund-designed “Parkhaus und Wohnanlage” (Parking Garage and Apartment Complex) located on Kirchbachstraße gets weirder and more wonderful the further it extends toward the sky. Built between 1977 and 1979, this eccentric piece of urban architecture is an artefact of a country obsessed with cars. As Torkar writes, “This apartment complex seems to be making more space for the cars than for their owners. In reality, the car park was meant to serve the whole block with the 16 apartments above as almost a bonus feature.”
Out now, Brutalist Berlin is the first book in a new series from Blue Crow Media, to be followed in 2026 by Brutalist London and Concrete New York.
