Berlin - Kino International

Berlin - Kino International

The Kino International is a film theater at Karl-Marx-Allee at east Berlin. It is located between the Alexanderplatz und Straussberger Platz. In the DDR it was used till 1989 as premiere cinema till the fall of the Wall. Since the 21th century this building is under monument protection and a testimony of modern architecture. It's architecture is completely different from the rest of the neoclassical buildings in this area.

The DDR regime wanted to show that their architecture is just as modern as the architecture during this time in the western Part of Berlin.

There are also a few other "modern architecture" buildings in this area which I will share with you in some following posts here.

Planing and architecture

Wikipedia

The theater was designed by Josef Kaiser and Heinz Aust as a three-story reinforced concrete frame construction with light sandstone façades. Kaiser had already designed the Kino Kosmos and Café Moskau. Due to the predefined boundaries of the bar area, the floor plans of each story vary: the ground floor is 38x35 m and the second floor is 47x35 m. A characteristic open space with glass surfaces faces the street, while the side façades are closed. The side surfaces show reliefs from Waldemar Grzimek, Hubert Schiefelbein, and Karl-Heinz Schamal.

After its two-year construction, the theater was opened on November 15, 1963 with a grand opening premiere. In addition to the theater itself, other rooms included a library, an office of the Oktoberklub, and a "Representation Room" in which state and party leader celebrated before and after film premieres. Today, these rooms host regular parties of Kino International's gay and lesbian club.

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