Berlin's 5 Expressionist buildings range from early 20th-century brick churches to Hans Scharoun's post-war concert halls. Expressionism in Berlin was never a single movement but a recurring impulse — the urge to make buildings that communicate emotion through form, material, and silhouette.
The Kreuzkirche and Church at Hohenzollernplatz represent Brick Expressionism at its most dramatic: angular facades, jagged towers, and interiors where light enters through narrow, deliberately placed openings. Ludwig Leo's Umlauftank 2 — a pink-painted hydraulic testing facility wrapped around a tubular water channel — is Expressionism applied to engineering infrastructure. Scharoun's Berlin Philharmonic and State Library translate the Expressionist impulse into civic architecture: the Philharmonic's tent-like roof and vineyard-terraced auditorium remain the most influential concert hall design of the 20th century.
