I am always fascinated by these web sites that document the "abandoned" past (though clearly this airport has not been abandoned at all). Here is another one I like: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/. There used to be a website that kept track of abandoned ski areas, but I cannot find it. Sadly, it looks like the website itself has been abandoned.
The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
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Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Make sure to visit it in Spring/Summer! The place is very lively with joggers, bikers, wind surfers, BBQs (although it is now banned because of lockdown I think), and tons of people just lying around and chatting. I understand that people needs houses but, I would consider letting go and demolishing this park would be as bad as demolishing Tiergarten. People need green spaces and parks as well.
Tempelhofer Feld is so vast, you could build housing and it would still be a huge park. Hardly anyone goes as far as to the southern strip, most people stay at the edges or bike through the center. You could build housing there with little influence on the character of the park.
IMHO, especially housing on the southern strip would massively influence the character of the space.
If you ask people, what makes the space special, you will very often get the answer, that it is the space's openness and breadth.
This impression is especially created by the southern strip, as open space continues also beyond of it: first, the railway (Ringbahn), after that the city highway and after that relatively low-rise industrial buildings.
If you would build on the southern part, this view would be cut off much earlier.
IMHO, if one wants to build housing on the field while keeping its character, one needs to build on the south-west corner - kind of as a continuation of the terminal building - or in the north-east corner.
Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#43I remember walking through Tempelhof when their appeared to be a sort of cycling event on. It might have been a regular thing, but it was fairly incredible. A single massive continuous swarm of people of all ages looping the airfield, on bikes, trikes, recliners, even velomobile. There was a tandem towing a trailer with two kids in it. It was crazy.
That was probably a critical mass event. It happens on the last Friday evening of every month.
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Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#44I am always fascinated by these web sites that document the "abandoned" past (though clearly this airport has not been abandoned at all). Here is another one I like: http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/ . There used to be a website that kept track of abandoned ski areas, but I cannot find it. Sadly, it looks like the website itself has been abandoned.
I went to that quarry a few times as a kid, even climbed up the really high ladder. Pretty cool place. Apparently there are cameras these days and the cops will come though unfortunately.
Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#45I live in Berlin. This place is entirely Giant. It’s a great place to go and hangout in the summer. Two large dog off leash areas and a large outer ring and tons of places to ride cycles and things.
There’s also a few restaurants to eat at before you go exploring.
Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#46Back in 2010 I was learning German and visited Berlin for the first time with another friend whose German was as bad as mine. We downloaded this random app (in German) telling us about Berlin tourist attractions, and upon reading it we "understood" that Tempelhof was a tourist attraction and "frozen in time" and we should visit it. We walked into the building looking for tickets for some sort of exposition, but there…
Seems one of the historic buildings was in fact open for tours, but you found the rest of the airport!
Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#47Tempelhof is cool. I flew into Tempelhof on a USAF jet in 1981. Landing was 'interesting,' due to the short runway and crowded city around it. On final approach the pilots had to thread the needle between apartments on either side of the flight path. You could basically see into the apartments, which were at eye level. Plus there was a cemetery right underneath, perhaps as a convenience in the event of a mishap.
Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#48I took a guided tour of the main Tempelhof airport building back in 2015. Some highlights:
* The main hall's ceiling was originally significantly higher, making a very imposing space. After the war, the Americans insisted a false ceiling was put in to make the hall less impressive. The room was damaged during the war by fire and all this damage remains above the false ceiling and is accessible. The tour actually took us up there.
* Construction of the airport had to halt during the war and some areas were hastily completed. We were shown areas where the attractive stone facade had fallen away and there was rubble stuck together by mortar behind.
* Hitler had a private terminal with a private elevator leading down to the boarding area
* There are bomb shelters with original uplifting drawings on the wall. https://twitter.com/prchovanec/status/1177225021162479616/ph...
* There's a full size basketball court from the american air base that was once there
Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#49Also what happened to the other aiports in Berlin like Tegel and Sconefeld since Brandenberg replaced them. The major delay in completing Brandenberg is also surprising to an outsider.
Schonefeld got merged with the new BER airport, Tegel is being converted into offices and apartment complexes.
Re: The Mother of All ‘Abandoned’ Airports (2015)
#50When visiting Berlin a few summers ago, I happened to be staying in Neukölln and decided it'd be fun to do one of my daily runs around the airfield. There's a funny thing about airports that I quickly realized: they have no trees and thusly no shade. They're also really big. I won't say I particularly enjoyed the run but it was cool to be able to do it and experience a very unique and historic outdoor space in a big…
For anyone else thinking to visit when it's hot: there are trees and shade around the beer garden "Luftgarten". You'll be thirsty for a beer after walking along that long runway too