I sometimes visit a friend of mine at Johanniterstr. 5 in Berlin-Kreuzberg and the building always makes me smile. It’s a U-shaped apartment building that is both very Modernist and quite friendly-looking. Though it’s made of pre-poured gray cement slabs like many of its severe-looking counterparts in East Berlin (and also in Gropiusstadt, see below), its chubby, rounded white balconies and bright-yellow windowframes give it a cute, cheerful appearance. It also doesn’t hurt that the building’s proportions are modest – just 5 floors – or that it is home to many plants, in unexpected places and forms.
urban plant research 