Filmmaker Nathan Eddy presents Battleship Berlin documentary

Filmmaker Nathan Eddy has teamed up with Dezeen to offer readers a 10-day screening of his documentary about the brutalist Mäusebunker building in Berlin, Germany.

The 40-minute film, titled Battleship Berlin, is available to watch exclusively on Dezeen, above, until 20 January 2022.

Battleship Berlin documents the brutalist Mäusebunker in Berlin

Battleship Berlin sheds light on the threats currently facing the brutalist Mäusebunker, or Mouse Bunker, which was built between 1971 and 1981 for the purpose of animal research.

Designed by German architects Gerd and Magdalena Hänska, the concrete edifice is now vacant and threatened with demolition. However, campaigns to save the building are also in place.

The concrete structure is currently at threat of demolition

Berlin-based Eddy's film summarises these efforts to save the laboratory as well as the opposition to it, as it moves between interviewees with starkly opposing views.

The 10-day Dezeen screening follows its premiere last year on the website of König Galerie, a gallery founded by Johann König who is among those featured in the film.

As an advocate for the building's preservation, König proposes transforming the building into a cultural centre, taking cues from the König Galerie that he created within a brutalist church.

At the other end of the spectrum is Axel Radlack Pries, the dean of the Charité hospital that owns the building, who described it as "a huge concrete monster" and supports its demolition.

Battleship Berlin features interviews and footage of the building

Eddy told Dezeen that the conflicting views over the future of Mäusebunker were an "inevitable" subject for a film.

"In the case of the Mäusebunker and Battleship Berlin, it was inevitable that I was going to make a film about it as soon as it exploded into view in front of me," he told Dezeen.

"The conflict between the two opposing mindsets – preservation or demolition – is always the key storytelling element."

Woven between the interviews is footage of Mäusebunker from different angles, highlighting its famed pyramidal form, projecting blue pipework and triangular windows. Lesser-known details, such as its heavily tiled interiors, are also revealed.

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Brutalist buildings threatened by right-wing politicians as part of "attack on the welfare state"

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Eddy hopes the screening of Battleship Berlin will help to "spotlight the cultural value of brutalist architecture" around the world.

Brutalist architecture is characterised by bold monolithic forms cast from exposed concrete. It is one of the 20th century's most controversial architectural styles.

"These are not easy buildings to love, they are downright loathed by many, but they are important and they are unique," Eddy said. "But they are, admittedly, difficult to repurpose."

"Therein lies the challenge, but I like an uphill battle, and a chance to change minds."

Triangular windows are among Mäusebunker's distinctive features

Another film directed by Eddy that celebrates brutalist architecture is The Absent Column, which focuses on the Prentice Women's Hospital by Betrand Goldberg in Chicago.

Eddy recently published a documentary with Dezeen that explores the life and work of Helmut Jahn, the American-German architect who passed away in 2020.

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Architect Helmut Jahn memorialised in short documentary In a Flash

Architectural filmmaker Nathan Eddy explores the life and work of Helmut Jahn in this documentary, which was created after the architect's death earlier this year.

Named Helmut Jahn: In A Flash, the short film is based on an interview Eddy conducted with Jahn in June 2016.

Originally filmed for Eddy's Starship Chicago movie, but never used, the interview was turned into a film following Jahn's death. Eddy hopes it will further the architect's legacy and impart something of his character onto viewers who didn't know him.

In a Flash is based on an interview conducted with Helmut Jahn in 2016

"I wanted it to be a very straightforward, stripped-down film, quite different from my other work, which usually involves a large number of subjects and a large number of viewpoints," Eddy told Dezeen.

"I wanted this to be a sort of direct communication between the audience and Helmut himself," he continued. "It takes place in his office and he's telling you his life story."

Jahn was known for his postmodern buildings, especially in his adopted city of Chicago. He was the architect of the James R Thompson Center, which was just last week saved from demolition, and United Airlines Terminal One at O'Hare airport.

His other key works include the Sony Centre complex on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin and the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

The documentary makes extensive use of drone footage filmed across three continents and including the Xerox Center in Chicago

In the movie, he discusses his journey as an architect, starting from his arrival in Chicago in the late 1960s on a rotary scholarship and covering how his style and design philosophy evolved.

Eddy combines the conversation with new aerial drone footage of Jahn's buildings, aiming to show them in their current context, as well as a light piano score that helps to carry the viewer along.

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Read:

Helmut Jahn's postmodern Thompson Center saved from demolition

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/12/15/helmut-jahn-thompson-center-saved-demolition/)

Eddy feels there is a sense of melancholy in watching the film knowing that its subject is gone and being aware of the work of his that will go unrealised.

"At the time it was filmed, he was very much in the midst of projects and he's talking about his future, a future that doesn't exist for him anymore," said Eddy.

"This is somebody who would have lived until he was 100, and who would have been an architect until the very end. He had that kind of vitality," he continued.

"I think that he was undervalued. And I think he thought that too."

Jahn was the architect of many buildings in Chicago including the Thompson Center

Eddy's filmography is centred on architecture and urban planning, and he often focuses on protecting architectural heritage. His 2017 film Starship Chicago was about Jahn's James R Thompson Center in Chicago facing the threat of demolition.

With the announcement last week that the building would be saved, but with the renderings showing a very toned-down refit, Eddy expressed a mix of joy and cautiousness.

"The biggest change that you see is that almost all of the colour elements have gone away," he said. "I sincerely hope that this renovation is in keeping with the spirit of the original design."

Helmut Jahn: In A Flash had its world premiere in Chicago on December 1, 2021, presented by MAS Context and the Goethe-Institut Chicago.

Project credits:

Director and producer: Nathan Eddy
Editor and sound/colour correction: Leonardo Franke
Music: Paul Bonomo
Aerial photography: Carson Cloud
Aerial photography Philadelphia: Andy D’Angelo
Helmut Jahn interview camera/sound: Brian Cagle
Additional photography: Lucas Rucci

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Nathan Eddy documents under-threat brutalist Mäusebunker building in Battleship Berlin film

American filmmaker Nathan Eddy has documented the efforts to preserve a brutalist laboratory in Berlin that is threatened with demolition in a short movie.

Named Battleship Berlin, the 40-minute film is currently available to watch on König Galerie's website. It documents both the efforts to save the concrete Mäusebunker building and the opposition to conserving the structure.

The brutalist Mäusebunker laboratory in Berlin is the subject of Nathan Eddy's latest film

Mäusebunker, which translates as Mouse Bunker, was designed by German architects Gerd and Magdalena Hänska for the purpose of animal research. It was built between 1971 and 1981.

After becoming vacant in 2010, the building is now threatened with demolition. However, campaigns to save the building have put plans to demolish the building on hold.

Mäusebunker was completed in Berlin in 1981

The Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, a building adjacent to Mäusebunker that features in the film, was listed for protection in January after also being under threat.

Berlin-based Eddy said that the conflicting opinions over the future of Mäusebunker became an "inevitable" subject for a film.

The building is threatened by demolition

These contrasting opinions are aired throughout the Battleship Berlin film, as it jumps between various interviewees who are either for or against preserving the building.

"In the case of the Mäusebunker and Battleship Berlin, it was inevitable that I was going to make a film about it as soon as it exploded into view in front of me," he told Dezeen.

"The conflict between the two opposing mindsets – preservation or demolition – is always the key storytelling element."

It is best known for its pyramidal concrete form

Among those keen for demoloition is Axel Radlack Pries, the dean of the Charité hospital that owns the building.

Pries, who described the laboratory as "a huge concrete monster – a nightmare transformed into matter", believes that the site is an opportunity for a new building that will help Berlin "regain its competitive edge".

However, the founder of König Galerie, Johann König, disagreed. He said it is possible to both "make use of what's there and also create something new".

As one of the people fighting to save the structure, König offered the example of the König Galerie – a gallery and cultural hub that he created within an old brutalist church in Berlin.

The film also reveals the laboratory's tiled interiors

Throughout Battleship Berlin, Eddy captures the building from all angles, spotlighting its distinctive triangular form, projecting blue pipework and large triangular windows.

However, the lesser-known details of the building, such as its heavily tiled interiors and the proximity to the Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, are also shown.

While shedding light on history and threats that face the building, he hopes the film can help "spotlight the cultural value of brutalist architecture" around the world.

[

Read:

Brutalist buildings threatened by right-wing politicians as part of "attack on the welfare state"

](https://www.dezeen.com/2021/10/21/brutalist-buildings-right-wing-attack-welfare-state/)

A similar ambition led him to direct The Absent Column, a film about the Prentice Women's Hospital by Betrand Goldberg in Chicago.

"My goal in making these films is to help people see the buildings in a new light, to help people develop an aesthetic and historic appreciation for this style of architecture, to explain the why and the how, to place brutalism in the proper context," he explained.

"These are not easy buildings to love, they are downright loathed by many, but they are important and they are unique. But they are, admittedly, difficult to repurpose," he continued.

The film also captures the distinctive building's pipework and windows

Brutalist architecture is typically characterised by bold monolithic forms cast from exposed concrete. It is considered one of the 20th century's most controversial architectural styles.

The style soared in popularity in the 1950s during the post-war rebuilding of the UK, reaching its peak internationally in the mid-1970s.

"Even for those who consider themselves fans of architecture, brutalism is still a tough sell," Eddy said.

"Therein lies the challenge, but I like an uphill battle, and a chance to change minds."

Axel Radlack Pries is among the people supporting the building's demolition

He added that while preserving architectural heritage, protecting brutalist buildings from demolition also needs to stop for environmental reasons.

"This relentless cycle of demolition and new construction, which extremely resource-intensive, needs to stop," he explained.

"Preservation can be pitched as contributing to sustainability and helping reduce resource and material consumption," he added. "I don't think that's emphasised enough."

His thoughts are echoed in the film by Christoph Rauhut, head of conservation at the Berlin Heritage Protection Authority.

Preserving the Mäusebunker is "also about protecting the environment", he said, as it prevents "additional energy being used to construct new buildings".

Johann König (above) said the building should be preserved

Battleship Berlin is available to stream on König Galerie until 31 October. Throughout November and December, it will be made available to watch as part of the Architecture & Design Film Festival.

In 2017, Eddy also directed a film called Starship Chicago that protests the demolition of Helmut Jahn's Thompson Center in Chicago, which is considered one of the city's best examples of the postmodern architecture style.

Tim Verlaan, an assistant professor at the Amsterdam Centre for Urban History, recently told Dezeen that brutalist buildings are currently threatened by right-wing politicians as part of an "attack on the welfare state".

"Today, criticism on brutalism and modernism is mostly voiced by those on the far-right side of the political spectrum, precisely because of the association between modernism and the post-war welfare state," he explained.

However, Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society, believes that brutalist buildings are typically demolished "because developers think they can put something bigger and more lucrative on the site".

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