But since then, Tempelhof has transformed into a super-popular, prairie-like park for the public’s freeform use. Very little has been done to “activate” the space for recreation, to use planner’s parlance. A DIY community garden sprouts in one corner; families grill sausages in another; the tarmac is stage to all manner of recreation. Whether the airport will forever remain a “masterpiece of adaptive reuse” remains to be seen, given local housing pressures. More recently, Tempelhof has doubled down as a rebuke to Germany’s ugly past, and as an assertion of the country’s progressive leadership in an increasingly closed-off West: The terminal and some of the grounds provide temporary housing to hundreds of refugee families. (For many, however, living conditions have been dirty and cramped.) [...]
Weirdly, it won’t get shut down when Brandenburg opens, even though the new facility is next door. At least not right away. In fact, Schönefeld is getting its own expansion to hold more passengers while its neighbor lurches to the finish line. By then, flight demand is expected to have outgrown Brandenburg’s capacity, so Schönefeld could stick around for the long haul. [...]
But there were problems from the start, problems that have mounted into a Kafka-esque pileup of error, as my colleague Feargus O’Sullivan reported earlier this year. It looks ready to receive passengers—the building itself has been complete since 2011. But then came the ventilation issues that stopped fire inspectors from certifying the building. Then there was an inexplicable shortage of check-in desks and luggage belts, a faulty cooling system, and wiring that had to be relaid. The latest setback: 1,200 automatic doors that wouldn’t open. By now, the airport will be stretched over capacity by the time it finally opens—which is now supposed to be sometime in 2018. Berliners aren’t holding their breath, but they are tracking the mounting cost, about triple the original budget.
No comments:
Post a Comment