This publication is featured on PiE in conjunction with the exhibition “Bringing places to light. Tempelhof, Mariendorf, Marienfelde” at Tempelhof Museum Berlin.

The images and the accompanying explanations by the communication designer Michaela Booth, presented in German and English, focus on famous architectural ensembles such as Tempelhof Airport and the Ullsteinhaus, but also on lesser-known industrial buildings like the Fritz Werner AG administration building in Marienfelde, the Mariendorf gasworks, and the facilities of Askanier-Werke AG and Rheinmetall-Borsig AG, both also located in Mariendorf and Marienfelde, respectively.

Many of these industrial buildings share the commonality of having been erected during the Nazi era and, through their use during World War II, being linked to arms production and inhumane forced labor. Today, there is hope that many of these structures, with their long-abandoned sites, can be revitalized and given new, future-oriented uses.

It is no coincidence that the “Large Load-Bearing Structure” (1941–42) appears at the beginning of the photo book: that enormous concrete cylinder extending deep into the ground, designed to simulate the load on the subsoil from a gigantic triumphal arch planned by the Nazis. The writer Ingo Schulze explores this building in a literary reportage entitled “White Spaces, Black Holes, Blind Spots,” which is also published in the book.

Photographer Carolin Förster analyzes the unique perspective of photographer Michaela Booth as she brings “places to light.”