An air raid shelter turned loft
Sun, 6 Oct 2013
My dream of living in a loft has never wavered, and the idea of living in a very industrial loft and having the challenge of warming the space up has always been intriguing. This loft isn't necessarily all that warm and cozy, but I really love the dramatic vibe it gives off. It is a former Nazi air raid shelter (complete with WWII bullet holes) erected in 1942 in central Berlin, and is the home of ad agency founder and publisher, Christian Boros, and his wife, Karen. Formerly devoid of natural light, the homeowners had the 3000 sq m bunker completely reconfigured and added massive windows. They have an amazing collection of furniture (and art of course - love the upside down head!), and the dark flooring and concrete walls make it dark and moody but the windows keep it fairly bright. Oh, to have that much space..... (via Freunde von Freunden)
Reader Comments (20)
I don't care how rich you are, to me living in a former Nazi bunker presents an insurmountable feng shui challenge. It's the creepiest residence I've seen in a long while.
Gotta go with Jared on this one. This place seems, somehow, terrible.
Though interesting in concept and execution, I agree with Jared: " living in a former Nazi bunker presents an insurmountable feng shui challenge". The upside down head is wretched.
According to Boros himself, this place also used to be a Soviet prison, a fruit & vegetables warehouse, a techno music club, a SM donjon.
What a nice place to live !
Yuk!
its definitely interesting and of course provocative of opinions...just given the history i would feel surrounded by bad juju living there...
and maybe in time with good energy and love in hearts - humans can and must override the past, never forgetting, yet making the Planet livable everywhere, anywhere for everyone ... all ways always...
If I didn't know the history of the place I would feel more inclined towards it, although the comment made by minimalcouture resonates also. On the balance of things however - if someone were to hand me the keys I would likely decline.
@minimalcouture: I think you are right.
I'm german and I'm surrounded by places of our bad history. I'm living in a townhouse from 1899, do I know whats happend here in my home? Who was living here? Maybe a Nazi, maybe a jewish family... Did someone lost his life here? I don't know, but for me, its more importend what it is today - a very nice place with bright rooms and wooden floors, friendly neighborhood and a street with nice cafes and small shops.
I think, the Boros family respect the history of their home and the idea to make it liveable was a good one. But I could understand that not everyone would like to live there.
Btw, I would love to have most of their furniture and art works!
I need Pets on Furniture to override the bad vibes.
Transformation is always met with skepticism. They have filled a dark place with light, in every way. I hope we can learn from them.
I love the contrast of the soft drapes, warm wood, and rich vibrant colours against the hard cool concrete.
Buy an EMF reader and go ghost hunting.
Cheap real estate yah.
ay que vivir en un bunker nazi por mas precioso diseño que tenga ...
Someone who has lived 20 years in the Ward Willits house - Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style masterpiece here in Chicago - sadly committed suicide a couple weeks ago. Shall I summon the bulldozers?
For a building meant to preserve life during war, it's getting a lot of presumptions tossed at it. Since I love brutalist, industrial and an austere aesthetic, this is a go for me!
Can you share the source of the west highland terrier sculpture.
Looks like a Jeff Koons Puppy vase. If real (and there is no need to doubbt considering how much this house would have cost) it is several thousand dollars a pup.
This real estate is very, very far from being cheap.
I just live around the corner from this bunker and always wondered what the owner's apartment on top might look like.
It's quite impressive.
A bunker doesn't have to be a bad thing; it saved lives and gave people shelter, I guess they were pretty happy about it then.
If you wouldn't want to live in places in Berlin where something war-related or with war history happened, you couldn't live anywhere.
So i am totally with Sandra and minimal couture.
Go and recycle.