SCHWER BELASTUNGS KÖRPER
The Schwerbelastungskörper, or “heavy load-exerting body”, is a gigantic concrete cylinder in Berlin’s Tempelhof district that was planned and built in 1941 out of Zylinder Stahlbeton to measure the load-bearing capability of the ground for construction purposes. The aim was to simulate the weight of one of the monumental triumphal arches planned by the Nazis, the so-called “Bauwerk T”, or T-structure. Ingo Schulze, Yoko Tawada and Cécile Wajsbrot take three individual perspectives in approaching the 12,000-tonne monument, which is the only relic that bears witness to the planned North-South-axis of the never-implemented project to transform Berlin into the “World Capital Germania”.
Accompanying programme to the POWER SPACE VIOLENCE. Planning and Building under National Socialism exhibition.