By Hans Poelzig
Explore Hans Poelzig’s workThe Vandelay collection · Germany
Neue Sachlichkeit architecture in Berlin
Explore Neue Sachlichkeit through Babylon Kino and Bauhaus Archiv-Museum. Compare the buildings and architects in our Berlin collection, then follow another local theme or discover this architecture in other cities.
4 buildings in this collection
Selected Neue Sachlichkeit buildings in Berlin
Compare the photographs and follow the architect links to explore their work.
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By Walter Gropius
Explore Walter Gropius’s work -
By Peter Behrens
Explore Peter Behrens’s work -
By Walter Gropius, Otto Bartning, Hugo Haring, Hans Scharoun
Explore Walter Gropius’s work
The local context
Neue Sachlichkeit in Berlin
Berlin's 4 Neue Sachlichkeit buildings document the "New Objectivity" movement that emerged in Weimar-era Germany as a pragmatic counterpoint to Expressionist emotion. Where Expressionism sought drama, Neue Sachlichkeit sought clarity: rational plans, standardised components, honest materials, and facades that expressed the building's structure without decoration.
Hans Poelzig's Babylon Kino represents the movement's overlap with late Expressionism — a cinema whose curved facade and streamlined interior balance rational planning with theatrical atmosphere. Walter Gropius's contributions to Siemens City and the Bauhaus Archiv-Museum show the style's mature phase, where industrial logic governed everything from window rhythms to material choices. Peter Behrens's Haus Lewin completes the set with a domestic application of the same principles: a house designed with the same rigour as a factory.
Beyond this collection
Put the buildings in context
Read the general Neue Sachlichkeit guide for architectural context and examples from other cities. For a broader view of Berlin, explore the city’s other buildings and architectural themes.
Neue Sachlichkeit in other cities
Continue exploring this architecture elsewhere. Each count refers to buildings tagged Neue Sachlichkeit in Vandelay.
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Germany Potsdam
1 buildingStart with The Einstein Tower.
Explore Neue Sachlichkeit in Potsdam
Architects in this collection
Counts show their documented Neue Sachlichkeit buildings in Berlin. The links open each architect’s wider collection.
More architecture in Berlin
Compare this collection with other themes represented in the city.
- Residential 8 buildings
- Functionalist 6 buildings
- Sacred 6 buildings
- Industrial 5 buildings
- Expressionist 5 buildings
- Futurist 3 buildings
- Deconstructivist 3 buildings
- Contextual Integration 2 buildings
- Stalinist 2 buildings
- Adaptive reuse 2 buildings
- Green architecture 2 buildings
- Bauhaus 2 buildings
- Postmodernist 2 buildings
- Facility 1 building
- Heimatstil 1 building
- Neues Bauen 1 building
- Nazi neoclassicism 1 building
- Jugendstil 1 building
- Gründerzeit 1 building
- Historicist 1 building
- Socialist Classicism 1 building
- Private House 1 building
- Neoclassicist 1 building
- Art Nouveau 1 building
- High-tech 1 building
- Organic architecture 1 building
Before you explore
- What does this collection cover?
- Vandelay currently documents 4 buildings tagged Neue Sachlichkeit in Berlin. These counts describe our selected catalogue, not a complete inventory. A building can appear under more than one architectural theme.
- Can I visit these buildings?
- Inclusion in the collection does not mean that a building’s interior is open to visitors. Check the venue’s official website for current access, opening hours and booking requirements.
- What does the app add?
- Use the map to find documented buildings, open their stories and photo galleries, and see nearby places with live distances in AR. This page offers examples and context; it is not a fixed walking itinerary.
Take it with you
Notice more on your next walk.
Find documented buildings on the map, explore their stories and see nearby places with live distances in AR.