Tempelhof

Tempelhof was an ancient land that once belonged to the Knights Templar. Situated on the Teltow Plateau, it has residential and light industrial areas, and the regions of Alt-Tempelhof, the old Templar village, and the airfield of the Tempelhof airport. The Tempelhofer Damm runs from north to south, and the Bundesautobahn 100 crosses it from Schoeneberg to Neukoelln.

The airfield is 386 hectares and takes up roughly a third of the surface area of Tempelhof. It was a vision
of the Nazis that survived their reign, designed by Nazi architect Albert Speer. The terminal building has a
curving shape that spans 1.2 kilometres. Giant aircraft hangars were built, arching to resemble the wings of an eagle
taking flight. The roof was laid in tiers, so that during air
demonstrations it could act as a stadium to seat spectators. The roof
also extends outwards like a canopy, and was built so high that it
could accommodate most contemporary airliners built during that time. Tempelhof Airport was considered one of the largest
buildings ever built.

Tempelhof has a high safety rating due to regular policing by both the military and city police forces. The roar of jet engines disrupts the peace and quiet and causes a low awareness of surroundings. The trees are ancient and overgrown, tangled and seemingly with a will of its own. Because of the high volume of transients and travellers passing through the district, the locals do not form a tight-knit community and are slow to notice anything strange. The living conditions are less than ideal and not a draw to residents.

## Locations

### **Alt-Tempelhof**

Located south of the Tempelhof Airfield, this neighbourhood is where the Knights Templar first built their fortifications as early as 1247. The former commandry is now a chain of parks, namely Bosepark, Kleiner Park, Alter Park, and Franckepark. Thick, twisted trees make up the woodlands; long, narrow bodies of water snake their way through the grounds, once part of the moat that surrounded the village centre. The streets around the park are taken up by modest residential homes built during the 50's and 60's.

#### **Parks**

* Survival 2

Located south of the Tempelhof Airfield, this neighbourhood is where the Knights Templar first built their fortifications as early as 1247. The former commandry is now a chain of parks, namely Bosepark, Kleiner Park, Alter Park, and Franckepark. Thick, twisted trees make up the woodlands; long, narrow bodies of water snake their way through the grounds, once part of the moat that surrounded the village centre. In Alterpark, the body of water is called Klarensee, and sits next to the village church and the old cemetery that was preserved from the time of the Templars. In Franckepark, the moat had completely dried out and now forms a deep valley. The park has an old rose garden installed in the 1920's; rose plants with long thorns grow wild and untended. A somewhat unsettling sculpture of an owl is displayed at the entrance of Franckepark; the eyes are made up of a reflective material that becomes illuminated at night with the headlights of cars driving past. The park sees the occasional jogger, but most of its facilities are no longer in use.

**Underground Bunker**

Two outdoor tennis courts can be found in Bosepark, one of the smaller parks in the greenery chain. The courts have been closed to the public for years; the grounds are littered with dead leaves and the court markings have faded. A dirt-covered manhole leads to a

#### **U-Bahnhof Alt-Tempelhof**

This station has a central platform and exits at each end. Utilitarian in appearane, it has grey-green tiles on the walls and brick cladding on the platform columns. The entrance to the station is located on both sides of the road, through a staircase that leads below ground.

**Abandoned Tunnel**

The tunnels branch off midway, heading in a rough northerly direction. The train tracks in this part of the tunnels are badly rusted and look like they haven't been used for decades. About half a kilometre north, the tunnel ends in a dead end which seems to be sealed off by collapsed rubble. The rubble and the walls surrounding it have been burned black, bearing severe char marks possibly from some fire long ago.

### **Tempelhof Harbour**

On the shores of the Teltow is the sprawling Tempelhof Harbour. Rusted ships and tugboats travel by the waterways, up the Teltow which links the River Havel with the River Spree. On either shore are warehouses and industrial complexes. The Ullsteinhaus takes up the entire southern shore, with its distinctive clock tower overlooking the harbour. Opposite it is a warehouse building, one of the first in Berlin, built from reinforced concrete and 120 metres long. Steel cranes operate by the shore, their skeletal arms jutting out above the water. The fishing boats harvest freshwater fish, which make their way to one of the fish packing plants by the shore.

#### **Ullsteinhaus**

* Politics 2
* Streetwise 2
* Status: Media

The office of the Ullstein Publishing Company (Ullstein Verlag) is a hulking brick behemoth that dominates the shoreline. It is located across the Teltowkanal from Alt-Tempelhof, and overlooks said canal, on the district's southern border with Mariendorf. At a height of 77 metres, it was the tallest skyscraper in Germany for thirty years until 1957. The building has a reinforced concrete skeleton and four wings which wrap around a courtyard. The body of the building is constructed in red brick. The tallest point of the building is the clock tower, featuring a design of narrow lancet windows placed between narrow pilasters. The entrance of the building is richly decorated, with corbels or ledges made out of travertine and various modernist relief sculptures. The sculptures include an oversized bronze horned owl, the logo of Ullstein Verlag.

Ullstein prints the Berliner Morgenpost and the Berliner Zeitung, now known as B.Z. Both publications have been historically left-wing, but after its acquisition by Axel Springer in 1960, they adopted a right-wing alignment with a distinct anticommunist stance. Visitors to the building are welcomed to a grand entrance hall, which has elevators leading to various offices and press rooms throughout the building. The basement of the building has a cafe and fine dining restaurant. The windows in the basement are ceiling-height, arched and open up to a view of the quay.

**Korova Milkbar**

* Feeding Pool 3. You may take the *Drugged* Condition after you feed.

This nightclub only opens when the sun goes down. Accessed through the cafe, one enters into the surreally decorated lounge of the Korova Milkbar. Nothing like it to get you ready for some ultraviolence. There is a public area with a matte black floor and black and white chairs. Plastic female mannequins, moulded with loving anatomical detail, are mounted on walls and arched with their hands and feet on the floor, to be used as coffee tables. The bar counter is futuristic in theme, made of glass and black PVC, and serves spirits, mixed drinks, and a special menu of ”milk” laced with vellocet, synthemesc, or drencrom (amphetamine, mescaline, or adrenochrome respectively), or your choice of tryptamines, barbiturates, methaqualones, or even more exotic ingredients.

Flexing your street cred (a roll of Wits + Streetwise) will allow you access to the range of substances that this bar has to offer. The booths have white leather chairs and each one is reasonably sequestered from one another. The patrons are all in various altered states of consciousness; some are sprawled out on their chairs, and some are shuffling on the dance floor to the terrible synthpop music.

**Members Only**

The walls and floors are decorated in black just like the main area of the bar. In here you are attended by servers, who are ladies in silver one-piece dresses and beehive hairdos. The ladies may be sent outside to fetch your “drinks”, laced with the designer drug of your choice.

If your drink comes in a glass, you can place it on the toned belly of one of the mannequin coffee tables here. They are again arched with their hands and feet on the floor, all mute and motionless, with a glossy layer of vinyl covering their skin. As you reach out to take your glass, you thought you could feel a pulse from the mannequin coming from underneath the vinyl shell. But then again, maybe not. Maybe the drugs are starting to kick in. There is again that terrible synthpop music. Whoever chose it should be staked.

### **Platz der Luftbruecke**

The flow of traffic in Tempelhof and the surrounding area come together at Platz der Luftbruecke. The plaza is vaguely fan-shaped, with the pointed side formed by the intersection between Tempelhofer Damm and Columbiadamm. The focal point of the square is the claw-like Berlin Airlift Monument—with its three prongs symbolizing Tempelhof, Tegel, and Gatow, the three air corridors that kept Berlin alive during the Berlin Blockade.

Several buildings are lined along the road facing the plaza in an arc. These include the headquarters of the West Berlin Landespolizei, the Police Praesidium, the Office of Water Transport and Inland Navigation, the Berlin Central Customs Office and Customs Investigation Office, and the central Lost and Found for the city of Berlin. Located dead centre facing the square is the entrance to the building of the Tempelhof Airport. The streets are wide enough to allow parking on either side, and needless to say, traffic congestion in this area is rampant.

#### **Police Praesidium**

* Investigation 4
* Status: Police

The Praesidium is a stern sandstone building built with the consideration of function over aesthetics. It is situated on the eastern end of Platz der Luftbruecke, where it is usual to see about a dozen armoured police vehicles parked around the corner. The building is a large rectangular block with bars on all its windows on the bottom floor. A square porch supported by rectangular columns gives way to the main entrance.

This is the headquarters of the police force in West Berlin. The reception hall is always busy, echoing with the sound of murmured conversation and the clickity-clack of typewriters. Stairs lead to the upper halls, where the various departments are located, including the criminal investigations division, the forensics department, the special units, and the chief of police. The hallways have linoleum flooring with a checkered pattern and avocado green walls. There are a few conference rooms to each floor, each with wooden furniture and wallpaper printed to look like wooden panels. The basement is fitted out as the archives, dedicated to storing the staggering amount of paperwork that this place generates.

#### **U-Bahnhof Platz der Luftbruecke**

The station is built deep underground with an unusually high vaulted ceiling and long platform. The Interplay of light and shadow is a feature of the design of the vaulted ceiling. It has no central columns, which is unusual among U-bahn stations in Berlin. The floor tiles are grey with black accents.

### **Tempelhof Airport**

Tempelhof Airport was a vision of the Nazis that survived their reign. The terminal building is a curving shape that spans 1.2 kilometres. A pair of aircraft hangars were built next to it, arching to resemble the wings of an eagle taking flight. The roof was laid in tiers, so that during air demonstrations it could form a stadium to seat spectators. The roof also extends outwards like a canopy, and was built so high that it could accommodate most contemporary airliners built in the 50's and 60's. For its time, Tempelhof Airport was one of the biggest buildings ever built.

The airport has two asphalt runways and a taxiway that loops around the runways. It has one terminal where all the passengers are processed. The terminal building has glass doors and walls on the ground floor, and extremely high limestone columns above it, supporting the expansive roof. The floors are made of a glossy off-white tile.

Since 1975, the airport was used exclusively for military flights. It is operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) as a base in Berlin. It is rare to see civilians in the airport, and the whole airport is closely monitored by security.