“urban minutes” is a collection of urban images from numerous cities across the globe. This photo project has an aesthetic, yet analytic approach on the conception of public space and cityscapes. Each image of the series is charged with time by being exposed for a time span of 60 seconds using an analogue mechanical camera.
An aspect I always find myself coming back to in the process is the human scale – a term associated with discourses in architecture and urbanism. It relates to urban space and describes our physical proportion to the built environment. How wide are the streets of a city? What is the average height of buildings? Does the city have public spaces where people are given the possibility to gather and to socially interact? Are distances walkable? And last, but not least: How do we humans create and share urban space and how does it in turn affect our condition and behaviour?

urban minutes

Human action strives to counteract natural entropy and create order. Establishing order demands effort, power and energy as well as coordinating many players. Order might as well be considered an expression of power - power over nature and power over others. This work assembles building fronts of federal German ministries and institutions.

order

CCTV Tower in Beijing is one of the largest structures ever built. It contains around 500.000 sqm of floor space. ”I understand CCTV more as a life form than as a static piece” says architect Büro Ole Scheeren who designed the giant in collaboration with OMA. I photographed the building in its urban context when in Beijing in 2014.

CCTV Tower

Galaxy Soho is an office, retail and entertainment complex in Beijing, China. It consists of four continuous, flowing volumes joining up and creating a continuum of open spaces, thus, re-inventing the classical Chinese courtyard. Galaxy Soho was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects whose hallmarks it evidently bears.

Galaxy Soho

In 2014 I had the chance to visit Wangjing Soho in Beijing and created a number of documentary images. The mixed-use development consists of three towers designed as "mountains" fusing building and landscape and connecting the complex to a nearby park. 
It was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and stands as a paragon for parametric architecture.

Wangjing Soho

In conjunction with my exhibition "Berlin bald fertig" at Atelier Kirchner in Berlin I have published this catalogue. It comes with an introduction by architect Christian Speelmanns and a critical essay by city photographer André Kirchner.

STANDARD EDITION
21 x 29,7 cm
100 pages, 45 photographs
softcover with dust jacket
4 colour digital print
ISBN 978 3 000 66718 3
Printed in Germany
EUR 25,–

Say hello@robertherrmann.com if you wish to order copy.

Berlin bald fertig — Exhibition Catalogue

One of Berlin's most spectacular buildings recently finished is undoubtedly the Cube next to our Central Railway Station. Its outer glazing layer reflects light and its surroundings in a kaleidoscopic manner.

"The sculptural is an essential part when creating architecture - but equally important is the life inside that sculpture." says Kim Herforth Nielsen of 3XN architects.

Having smart building technology implemented and interior layouts with maximum flexibility the cube promises to react on dynamic workplace constellations in the future.

Cube Berlin

Architectural Photography of the new built Szczecin Philharmonic in Poland designed by Studio Barozzi Veiga.

Szczecin Philharmonic

Prosperity and security are the promotion labels of the new Istanbul. What is withheld, however, is the fact that the Turkish economy is very much built on credit, fueled by billions of dollars of subsidy from abroad. Everywhere within the city building projects are finished hastily. Immense infrastructural projects dig deep into the topography and affect the urban as well as the social fabric that has evolved over time. Since 2014 the Bosphorus can be crossed underground by rapid transit railway within a few minutes. Whole new stretches of land are reclaimed from the Marmara Sea. A new metro bridge crosses the Golden Horn connecting the Byzantine heritage in the south to the growing business districts in the north. The inner-city railway network is planned to grow by more than 400 kilometers by the year 2019. A new and even bigger airport shall be built. The metropolis strives for a global future.

New super malls with their own subway connection and everything to fulfill any consumer's desire resemble cities within the city. Skyscrapers grow out of the dense fabric of the mahalle. Residential and commercial property is being developed by international standards – buildings, that could be anywhere in the world. Symbols of the power of capital. The city becomes more complex and at the same time more proprietary – public space gradually becomes partitioned, privatized and monitored. Recently erected residential districts guarded by their own security service appear as walled fortresses.

The minimization of public space stokes social tensions. In 2013 the plans to redevelop the area of Gezi Park next to Taksim Square triggered massive protests among the population, which attracted international attention. Who owns the city? Who is allowed to use it and how? Is the right to the city becoming a right of the privileged?

Yeni İstanbul

Once French colonial town and known as the pearl of Southeast Asia, now the biggest city in Vietnam and the country's financial centre, Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City has been transforming into a megalopolis - and with its population already beyond 10 million it is growing fast.  Until now the old cityscape has already been altered by a number of skyscrapers. But what is to be expected, when a metropolis is changing fast and profoundly like this?

Ten years ago I visited Saigon for the first time. Small stores and street kitchens edged the streets emitting smoke and steam and exotic food smells. Yet, even back then highrise buildings were starting to be erected along the main roads indicating the impact that lie ahead of the city in the years to come.
Since then I have been visiting Saigon several times again documenting its transformation. The change is not only happening in terms of architecture, but also regarding society and culture: capitalism seems to rule after all. The people's traditional way of life, worshiping the bonds of the family, is making way for individual aspirations after wealth and consumption.

Everywhere street kitchens are being torn down in order to erect modern high rises where banks and companies are doing their business and where a growing middle class is to satisfy their shopping needs. Saigon is densifiying. At the same time many inhabitants are forced to move to the city's fringes where real estate prices are lower. New quarters are rapidly and organically growing there, often loosely regulated by the city authorities. Where does the city end? Where does it start?

Increasing traffic is requiring fast solutions, often at the cost of tearing down old structures. But are the generic high rises that follow nothing but the pulse of commercial investment really the best building practice for a unique city like this? Will Saigon, in the process of its further development, be able to keep its character?

Vietropolis - Saigon's transformation into a mega city

Since last year I have been documenting an area in Berlin known as East Side. It lies in the heart of Berlin’s district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg between Ostbahnhof, Warschauer Straße and the river Spree.

Its initial urban planning dates back to the early 1990s. After the German Reunification some parts of this huge strip of land was railroad property but most of it lay empty and devastated as a consequence of being but a buffer zone during the Cold War.

The East Side has since been undergoing massive urban redevelopment and we are now seeing the last plots in the area to be completed. I will be examining how it is going to connect to its neighboring quarters. How is it going to affect the urban fabric, change the skyline even? How will it be adopted by the population? Well let's see!

East Side Berlin

"Berlin is damned forever to become and never to be" writes Karl Scheffler at the end of his classic 1910 portrait of the city "Berlin. Ein Stadtschicksal". – "Berlin is soon to be finished!" I dare to say.

Vacant lot after vacant lot is being filled. Building ground is getting rare and an abundance of housing space has turned into scarcity. Interim use is slowly coming to a halt. And now that the new capital airport BER has gone into operation that statement might even be true.

These are photos of Berlin construction sites I took within the past couple of years, current ones, finished ones and a few left in an uncertain state. They give evidence on a number of significant transformations the cityscape has been going through.

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Robert Herrmann

urban minutes

order

CCTV Tower

Galaxy Soho

Wangjing Soho

Berlin bald fertig — Exhibition Catalogue

Cube Berlin

Szczecin Philharmonic

Yeni İstanbul

Vietropolis - Saigon's transformation into a mega city

East Side Berlin

Berlin bald fertig (Berlin soon to be finished)

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