Berlin's main station flooded with light

Anyone arriving in Berlin by train is greeted by a glass main station. The roof and side walls of the central station are glazed, allowing daylight to flow unhindered through the building.

 

Thanks to the light construction, the visitor has a view in all directions. They can watch the arriving trains on the ground floor from the 5th platform.

 

Long-distance and regional trains as well as underground and suburban trains arrive at the station on several superimposed levels. The individual levels are connected by an open architecture with lots of glass, escalators and lifts.

 

Designed by the architect Meinhard von Gerkan, the main station was completed in 2006. Today, around 300,000 travellers use it every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the best, Uli

Very nice photos, thanks for posting them.

That's quite a building. Germany should be certain to include these photos on their application to rejoin the human race.

Nice architecture, well recorded - but having an inherent fear of depths (not heights !) I doubt if I'd be over content on the upper levels !

Impressive! Very impressive (and futuristic as well)....Izzy

Odd that they would make it all glass. One bomb and its shrapnel city. Nice photos though!

OK Uli, I'm being (constructively) critical here. You have lots of good Berlin Station 'scene' photos, most of which have probably already been taken by other people. Yours may be way better than most, but they're probably not really original. Perhaps your most original photo is this one.

 

I'm just an amateur photographer, but I do believe in making photos 'personal'. In the sense that while you (and I ) may take many 'standard photos' at any location, we also look around for photos that attract us personally and (perhaps) are original.

OK Uli, I'm being (constructively) critical here. You have lots of good Berlin Station 'scene' photos, most of which have probably already been taken by other people. Yours may be way better than most, but they're probably not really original. Perhaps your most original photo is this one.

 

Hm. I am also an amateur photographer and I am interested in architecture among other things. And here, I think, people are rather not the decisive factor.

 

In my architectural photography I want to show the features, the construction, the geometry etc of a building.

 

The personal would then be in the style of how I implement that photographically.

 

Using the Berlin Central Station as an example, the relatively delicate structure of the mighty building. The openness of the station, how the light "flows" inside...

 

Whether I succeed, hm, that is then in the eye of the beholder.

 

Best regards, Uli

but I do believe in making photos 'personal'.

Hello Mike, I think I misunderstood you (I translated it wrong). I thought you were missing people in relation to the station.

 

After re-reading, I understand your criticism to mean that the shots are too conventional. Hm, yes, they are rather documentary. Whereas I was hoping to portray the lightness of the construction.

 

You'd rather have unusual images that deviate from the standard?

 

Best regards, Uli

Whereas I was hoping to portray the lightness of the construction.

 

They're great IMO, and they seem to comply with all the rules of composition and exposure, it's obvious that you put some of thought into each shot before taking them. They're all interesting but my favorite is the fifth one "Glass Dome", and if you took no other shots, this one alone would be enough to explain the architecture and light. It's taken from a position as if you were one of the passengers waiting for a train to arrive, which in turn allows the viewers of the photo to imagine themselves in that position, marveling at the glass construction while waiting.

Hi Uli,

 

I meant no criticism of your photos at all! My comment was unclear and I apologize for that.

 

I only meant that some of your photos are taken from ground level or from the level of walkways or platforms. While very good, these are perhaps the kind of photos that I and other photographers also take at 'interesting' stations. Yours are probably way better than most! I once did a small series on 'Antwerp station''

 

The 'standout' photo in this series for me personally is the one 'Levels of Berlin Main Station'! Just in terms of 'visual interest'. You have a unique perspective and composition in this photo. It (literally) has a lot of depth, lots of (dynamic) diagonal lines, interesting visual 'shapes', and people on the escalators moving in different directions at different levels on the escalators and on the walkway. So this photo draws me in because there's so much going on in the photo. To put it another way, this photo (for me) brings 'the architecture' to life. Because I can see how people interact with architecture.

 

I'm really not an 'architecture' photographer, much more a 'people' photographer. So I really like this photo which (apart from its excellent perspective and composition) clearly shows what this multi-leveled architecture means to real people. It's exceptional (to me) because it illustrates the 'social side of the 'architecture'.

 

Just as a viewer, my impression is that the high quality of this photo is less influenced by 'the architecture' and more influenced by your personal photography skills (position, perspective, composition). That's what I was trying to communicate.

 

Uli, I hope that this comment is a bit clearer:).

 

Best wishes and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work!,

 

Mike

 

QUOTE="ulrichberger, post: 5936568, member: 10945807"]Hello Mike, I think I misunderstood you (I translated it wrong). I thought you were missing people in relation to the station.

 

After re-reading, I understand your criticism to mean that the shots are too conventional. Hm, yes, they are rather documentary. Whereas I was hoping to portray the lightness of the construction.

 

You'd rather have unusual images that deviate from the standard?

 

Best regards, Uli

original

And then there's the difference between original and personal. Lots of things may not be original but still come across to me as personal. I tend to be as drawn to the personal as the original, probably more so to the personal, since I think true originality is harder to achieve and somewhat rare. For me, the attempt to be original often doesn't lead me forward. The desire to make more personal photos does. Getting personal feels like something I can do on my own and from within. Being original has many more external demands, I think.

 

I've been working on a project that involves buildings, though I wouldn't consider what I'm doing architectural photography per se. Being intimate or personal with a building is not an easy thing, and I'm not suggesting every photographer would approach it that way, since I think some architectural photography can be effective from a pretty objective standpoint.

 

I see some of the lightness of construction you're talking about though I wonder if some of the heavier shadows get in the way of that, those shots becoming more dramatic than light. Those heavy shadows could play a contrasting role to the lightness/airiness of the construction but I don't think they necessarily do here. Would shooting upward for the Levels photo have suggested more lightness?

 

Regardless, it's an interesting and consistent series, and the description that comes to mind is magisterial.

"... I was hoping to portray the lightness of the construction." ... flooded with light.

Uli, this is a very well done series of the dramatic architectural structure. Tho it does not give me the sense of how the space is flooded with light, I can see how it would be. Very few photos i saw online of Meinhard von Gerkan's work seem to give me a good sense of the impact and feeling of the light on a person & space as you pass through the station. As an architectural designer the space created is paramount for me. I understand the challenges faced when the exterior and interior are commingled... I would enjoy very much to get a better sense of the light within.

Edited January 13, 2022 by inoneeye

"... I was hoping to portray the lightness of the construction." ... flooded with light.

Uli, this is a very well done series of the dramatic architectural structure. Tho it does not give me the sense of how the space is flooded with light, I can see how it would be. Very few photos i saw online of Meinhard von Gerkan's work seem to give me a good sense of the impact and feeling of the light on a person & space as you pass through the station. As an architectural designer the space created is paramount for me. I understand the challenges faced when the exterior and interior are commingled... I would enjoy very much to get a better sense of the light within.

 

Re "flooded with light." Yes, you are right.

 

I wasn't careful enough in the description. I wanted to express that the building appears filigree, hm, almost "without weight", But there is no "flooded" light

 

This criticism helps. I have to make sure in the future that the description hits the subject more accurately.

 

Best regards, Uli

Uli, I hope that this comment is a bit clearer:).

Yes, much clearer.

 

The criticism helps me to see my pictures with a different view. I am usually so "deep in the picture" that I lack the idea that you could also see it differently.

 

Best regards, Uli

Some excellent images. I particularly like the ones that use an unusual viewpoint, such as

Levels of Berlin Main Station

I like these. IMO you've captured the sense of the structure well, by shooting solid photos of the exterior (giving us a sense of the "whole"), and I like the interior shots also. Well done! Whenever I finally get to Berlin, I'll be certain to arrive by train so I can see this marvelous, modern building.