Hans Achim Grube Libri

Berlin’s power stations are architectural marvels--but technical and economic progress has made many of them either obsolete or economically unviable. (Two prime examples include the Steglitz Power Station and the Scharnhorst Transformer Station, both designed by Hans Heinrich Müller, Berlin’s chief power station architect between 1924 and 1930.) Innovative concepts are sorely needed to find new uses for these masterpieces of industrial architecture in order to preserve them historically and make support of them feasible once again for Berlin’s economy. New Power presents over 20 renowned projects for the first time--going as far back as the 1950s. This volume also provides examples of the successful reuse of these structures, which has been on the rise in recent One aging station has been gracefully brought back to life as a synagogue.

Berlin was once the biggest industrial area in Europe. Enterprises like AEG or Siemens laid the foundations for a modern power supply together with Bewag, the Berlin electricity provider. This book introduces power stations as part of the architectural heritage of Berlin.

Power stations stand as imposing evidence of the unprecedented industrialization that Berlin underwent in the nineteenth century. Today, though, technological developments have left them behind, outdated and stripped of their original purpose. In the last few years, Bewag, the Berlin energy provider, has set for itself the twofold task of not just maintaining the buildings but also finding new, economically viable uses for them. This publication presents proposed projects for the power stations and contributes to the larger discussion about reusing industrial architecture.