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Feel history, dis­cover world cul­tural heritage, breathe the forest air: park­châlet potsdam

Holidays on the out­skirts of the capital city and at the same time remote and dreamy — in a lake-rich park land­scape of world heritage status. Alpine romance in Prussia, reinter­preted.

by Ulrich Knoll in April 2021

When you wake up, ever­y­thing is green and birds are chirping. So, as a newly arrived guest, you quickly try to find your bea­rings on the first morning — am I really within a stone’s throw of Berlin or am I in the forest, in the park, even in Switz­erland?

The view is of mighty treetops. Below you wafts the morning mist, over which the first rays of sun­light are rising.

Welcome to a world-class park land­scape rich in lakes, welcome to the wildly romantic “Switz­erland” of Prince Carl — hello park­châlet potsdam!

Nestled in a valley on the banks of the Havel lakes, lies the Potsdam dis­trict of Klein-Glie­nicke between Babelsberg and Bött­cherberg. Between 1863 and 1867 Prince Carl of Prussia com­mis­sioned the architect Fer­dinand von Arnim to build ten Swiss houses here in the style of the day. One of these was the pre­de­cessor of the park­châlet potsdam (the house can be seen in the picture below, which is of a coloured litho­graph in the architect’s sketchbook). To this day, the buil­dings that still exist fit har­mo­niously into an extensive sequence of parks and palaces in the English and Italian manner.

Since the end of the 18th century, the inha­bi­tants of Switz­erland have been regarded as exem­plary nature-lovers, as noble people who lived in harmony with their envi­ronment. Prince Carl, who was influenced by Roman­ticism and had a passion for gardens, knew the country from his own expe­rience and pro­bably decided in 1861, after tra­velling there again, to create “his very own Switz­erland” in Potsdam.

And so it is not only houses that adapt the type of chalet building that can be found here, but a cle­verly com­posed, alpine-inspired land­scape with hills, rock for­ma­tions, pic­turesque boulders and a meadow clearing has been created. The whole thing is so decep­tively real that you only notice the man-made nature of the ensemble at second glance.

And right in the middle: the park­châlet

The fact that here and now HOLI­DA­Y­AR­CHI­TECTURE-guests expe­rience a kind of squaring of the circle — living on the edge of city life and at the same time in won­derfully remote and dreamy sur­roun­dings — is directly due to the efforts of the hostess Pia von Kaehne and her husband, the architect Gerald Kühn von Kaehne.

Without them, the park­châlet would simply not exist, as the ori­ginal house had fallen victim to German history.

In order to under­stand their project, it is necessary to take a look at the larger spatial context, as well as a flashback into the his­to­rical context — both with regard to Prussian as well as more recent German history, which came to light here in momentous uphe­avals more so than in any other German city — with both happy and tragic twists and turns

Because, on the one hand, the park­châlet potsdam lies at the heart of a garden kingdom of inter­na­tional standing, which was included in the list of the World Heritage Com­mittee in 1990 as the first Unesco entry after the fall of the Wall. On the other hand, in the his­to­rical context of the 28-years of German-German division, the house is also located directly — i.e. within sight or walking distance — of the former inner-German border, which in turn bru­tally cut through the sur­rounding his­toric parkland from 1961 onwards and muti­lated fun­da­mental parts of it beyond reco­gnition for almost three decades

Deep wounds, suc­cessful healing

When you step outside the park­châlet today, a good 30 years after reuni­fi­cation, the idyll has returned. The view of the house from the meadow no longer reminds us of the wounds left by the demar­cation line and the death strip during the Cold War.

This is all the more asto­nishing because in GDR times Klein-Glie­nicke was an enclave on West German ter­ritory, which could only be reached by bridge, and was the­r­efore a high-security zone and a hotspot in the struggle between the power blocs. The popular nickname “the appendix of the GDR” is no coin­ci­dence. In response to the cri­tical nature of the location, the mea­sures to secure the border were par­ti­cu­larly dra­matic — from 1961 onwards, there was ruthless inter­fe­rence in the structure of the his­to­ri­cally signi­ficant vistas of palaces and parks, houses (and liveli­hoods) were razed to the ground.

A well-known symbol of the division is the Glie­nicke Bridge, which gained inter­na­tional attention in the course of several, some­times spec­ta­cular, agent exch­anges between “East and West”. Its two-coloured paint still visibly marks the former border today. The resi­dents had a kind of exile status within the GDR state. Many of the old resi­dents left the area in the course of the inner-German division; some vol­un­t­arily or they were replaced by GDR offi­cials loyal to the party. At the same time, the mea­sures to secure the border — also in terms of con­s­truction — became more acute.

Resur­rection of the Prussian Arcadia: paradise pains­ta­kingly regained

We are com­pelled to keep all this in mind in order to get an idea of the decades of effort required to reunite such extensive, signi­ficant (urban) land­scapes.

Not all, but essential wounds left by the division of Germany in today’s UNESCO World Heritage Site have been suc­cessfully healed.

Six of the ori­ginal ten houses fell victim to the border regime over the years. Among them was the building on whose foun­da­tions the park­châlet now stands.

Alpine Roman­ticism, reinter­preted

It must be empha­sised that the new building — for that is what it is — is not a recon­s­truction, but an inter­pre­tation of the ori­ginal house and fits into the ensemble of existing Swiss houses.

Which brings us directly to the architect. Gerald Kühn von Kaehne’s archi­tecture firm, which he has run with Eberhard Lange in Potsdam since 1991, focuses on the pre­ser­vation of his­to­rical monu­ments and the refur­bishment of existing his­to­rical buil­dings. New building pro­jects in his­to­rical sur­roun­dings and in scenic loca­tions are also an essential part of the office’s DNA. In planning and imple­men­tation, the firm places par­ti­cular emphasis on the inclusion of land­scape and garden design, as well as on the rela­ti­onship to the history of the location. It is not intended to be osten­sibly spec­ta­cular, but always to be pursued as a response that is appro­priate to the existing location.

In 1990, before reuni­fi­cation, Gerald Kühn von Kaehne and Pia von Kaehne moved to Potsdam from the former West to the East: unbiased, curious and fasci­nated by the land­scape, people and buil­dings. They first came to the Klein-Glie­nicke dis­trict fol­lowing an enquiry to their archi­tecture firm regarding a pro­posal for a rede­ve­lo­pment concept. The place became their home and its history still inspires them.

Since 2015, six holiday apart­ments with bal­conies or ter­races have been available in their park­châlet, which is open all year round. Close to the city and nature, the house is ideal for creative breaks and work­ca­tions.

The building in its current form is not only built on the foun­da­tions of its pre­de­cessor; it is also based on the former alpine chalet in terms of form, cubature and mate­riality. However, it is deli­berately a new inter­pre­tation that avoids pure imi­tation. Essential ele­ments such as the sur­rounding balcony, the pro­jecting roof over­hangs and the striking chimneys are clear refe­rences to the his­toric family of Swiss houses.

Klein-Glie­nicke has layers of time that can still be read today, and the park­châlet fits con­fi­dently into this sequence by allowing the his­toric buil­dings the dignity of age and not ing­ra­tiating itself with his­to­ricism.

With his design, Gerald Kühn von Kaehne has pre­served the works of earlier creators of Pots­dam’s cul­tural land­scape. Like them, he has adapted a his­to­rical style and trans­posed the building design of the chalet into the present, thus meeting the requi­re­ments of light and air in 21st century living.

Outside and inside

At the same time, the architect presents here his very own con­tri­bution to the theme of recon­s­truction by sen­si­tively incor­po­rating a balanced new creation in the terrain topo­graphy. He resisted the attempt at imi­tation and yet reminds us so clearly of the pre­vious building that the viewer is able to read the refe­rences. The alpine chalet that defied the weather has been trans­formed into a trans­parent structure flooded with light. Pre­viously small windows were widened and now allow nature to enter unhin­dered into the interior.

When designing the inte­riors, emphasis was placed on clarity and tran­quillity, so that the omni­present views come into their own. Spe­cially designed fix­tures, beds and tables made of wood create a feel-good atmo­sphere, while mineral flo­oring and white Corean kit­chens bring fresh lightness and spa­ciousness. The light walls, painted with white marble dust, come alive with incident light and reflect the colours of the seasons into the room.

In the attic, the glazed gables provide views of large park or avenue trees and their crowns, where squirrels climb skilfully, woodpe­ckers are tapping and the loud songs of num­erous species of birds can be heard. When nature awakens in spring, guests can look at the first buds and leaves right in front of their eyes, while on hot summer days the leafy mantle of the trees pro­vides shade and coolness.

Gerald Kühn von Kaehne and Pia von Kaehne opted for unt­reated wooden windows and shutters, which are pro­tected by the roof overhang but change colour over time due to light and air and age with the sur­rounding tree trunks. In this way, archi­tecture and nature also visibly merge with each other down to the last detail.

All the apart­ments in the park­châlet have their own indi­vidual views and each window becomes the frame of a scenic snapshot. Archi­tecture and nature are inter­re­lated and inter­woven. Ele­ments that com­plement each other and calmly direct the view are the result of a design concept that has left no detail to chance.

Many decisions were made through intensive con­s­truction management and always on site in con­sul­tation with the craftsmen. Views, directed light, visual axes and pro­por­tions utilise and develop the site’s potential.

At the time, Prince Carl and his architect chose the building site with care and a feeling for the land­scape and the archi­tecture, which was created there. Today’s park­châlet with the attractive shape of its hill and curved access road belongs — as if it had never been absent — in this picture again.

Much can, nothing must

While you feel you can’t get enough of the views: sooner or later you’ll be drawn outside. Be it to roam the “Swiss” mountain pan­orama, to stroll through the adjacent park­lands, to explore one of the many sur­rounding palaces or the Pfau­en­insel (Peacock Island). You could also go for a swim in the lake, then cycle into the city centre to the Bar­berini Museum, before stopping off in the Dutch Quarter. The vibrant centre of Berlin is also just a stone’s throw away by public transport.

It feels all the nicer to return to the quiet rustling of trees in this tem­porary oasis after a ful­filling day.

By Ulrich Stefan Knoll, April 2021

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The House

Apartment park­châlet potsdam

Apartment park­châlet potsdam

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In the 19th century, an ensemble of “Swiss” houses was built in the dis­trict of Klein Glie­nicke in Potsdam, some of which were des­troyed during the con­s­truction of the Berlin wall and the period of Germany’s division.

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