Norman Foster's Monumental Cattle Car
During my very brief visit to Berlin I had the opportunity to visit the Reichstag. Having just last month been introduced through a work project to Norman Foster + Partners, I wanted to see first-hand how this knighted Brit handled the political minefield of melding the ancient teutonic icon with modern glass and steel.
The building itself is remarkable, and I'm sure as a member of parliment one benefits from the timely update, but as a tourist I found the whole experience very unnerving. In order to get tourists past the governmental work zones and onto the roof, the building employs a series of airlock-style corridors and an elevator. The employees who are charged with getting the throngs of tourists respond to these physical constraints by packing clusters of people in before they close one door and open another. And they packed us in tightly. Packed into the front door airlock. Packed again into a corner waiting for the elevator. Packed into the elevator. packed again into another lock when we tried to leave. With all the German talk (staff saying "let's go! get in tighter!) the whole thing felt, well, familiar, if you catch my drift...
