Lending an Ear to Architectural History: Commemorating Meyershof, ca. 1932

Abstract

Abstract:While there is an extensive body of literature on the history of Berlin's mass housing in visual terms, we approach architectural history via acoustic ecology to add a sonic layer to our understanding of the built environment. Listening to the soundscapes of Meyershof, an infamous Berlin tenement, we discuss the relationship between architectural form, sound, and the everyday experiences of the residents. Mining architectural plans, artistic representations, and earwitness accounts in newspaper articles and police reports of the time for sonic clues, our examination of the sights and sounds of Meyershof seeks to (literally) recall the sonic conditions of a time within which communities were formed, dissolved, and reformed. Against a monosensory understanding of the past through vision alone, we contend that the marginalized sense of hearing is a suitable approach to give marginalized groups a "voice."