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Passagen, ein Bautyp des 19. Jahrhunderts
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July 22, 2025
I'd like to know more, but it seems that architectural historians in Berlin in the post-war period were adept at publishing large, exhaustive typological studies of particular building types. Kohlmeier and von Sartory's book on iron and glass architecture is a prized possession of mine, and this is very similar. An introductory text explaining the overall history and the specific qualities of the typology, followed by a gazetteer of as many different examples that could be found, give a thorough (to the point of desiccation) study of a phenomenon.
It is very interesting that the author bemoans the fact that the estate of a certain Walter Benjamin were unwilling to give people access to what would later be published as the Passagenwerk, and despite the dryness, there are many passages that discuss the melancholy and, dare I say it, germinal qualities of the arcades, both pointing the way forward to the banality of the 20th century shopping mall, but also as strange public spaces, in which all of the new forms of life of industrial capitalism were testing themselves out.
It is very interesting that the author bemoans the fact that the estate of a certain Walter Benjamin were unwilling to give people access to what would later be published as the Passagenwerk, and despite the dryness, there are many passages that discuss the melancholy and, dare I say it, germinal qualities of the arcades, both pointing the way forward to the banality of the 20th century shopping mall, but also as strange public spaces, in which all of the new forms of life of industrial capitalism were testing themselves out.
Displaying 1 of 1 review