{"id":83539,"date":"2026-07-09T14:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/?post_type=kb_magazin&p=83539"},"modified":"2026-07-10T01:04:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T23:04:42","slug":"architecture-as-a-protective-machine","status":"publish","type":"kb_magazin","link":"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/en\/m-post\/architecture-as-a-protective-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"Architecture as a “protective machine”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bunkers and air-raid shelters still shape the cityscape in many places today \u2013 often hidden, sometimes barely noticed. For some, they are military relics of a bygone era; for others, they are poignant reminders of war, fear and the struggle for survival. In a joint seminar organised by the <\/b>Institute for Architecture-Related Art (IAK)<\/b><\/a> and the <\/b>Institute of History (IfG)<\/b><\/a> at Technische Universit\u00e4t Braunschweig, students undertook an interdisciplinary examination of bunkers and architecture as a “protective machine”. In doing so, they examined these shelters not as isolated relics of the past, but as active architectural, social and aesthetic structures within the urban landscape.<\/b><\/p>\n

During the Nazi era, Braunschweig was developed into a centre of the armaments industry. Numerous bunkers were also built in the city during this period. The building housing the Institute for Architecture-Related Art in the Querumer Forst is closely linked to the history of bunker construction. Between 1938 and 1945, Professor Theodor Kristen Ende developed the so-called “Braunschweig reinforcement” at what was then the Institute for Architectural Air-Raid Protection. His expertise in building materials, particularly reinforced concrete, was of central importance to civilian bunker construction in Braunschweig, the “German Reich” and the occupied territories of the time.<\/p>\n

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The artistic performance \u201cVaporous Bodies\u201d took place in the outdoor area and the adjacent woodland of the Institute for Architecture-Related Art. Photo credit: Stella Flatten<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The foggy figure symbolises the concealment of the past. Photo credit: Stella Flatten<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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Still from the stop-motion film \"Unbombable Archives\". Photo credit: Stella Flatten<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The seminar group at Braunschweig harbour, next to the Westermann splinter protection cell. Photo credit: Marie R\u00f6pke<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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Performance: \"Disappearing whilst Connecting\". Photo credit: Stella Flatten<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The spatial installation \u201cVerschwinden im Verbinden\u201d at the former bunker on Nussberg in Braunschweig. Photo credit: Sief Kuban<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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A performance offering a commentary on the historical fabric of the former air-raid shelter on the Nussberg. Photo credit: Sief Kuban<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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Facade projection of the work \"Alternative Realities\". Photo credit: Team Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The projection really comes into its own in the dark. Photo credit: Team Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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As well as the projection, the students also built a model of the building featuring the planned fa\u00e7ade. Photo credit: Team Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The model was based on a piece of cast concrete that the students found near the IAK in the Querumer Forest. Photo credit: Team Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler <\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The hidden room \u2013 a time frozen in history. A historical reconstruction of the Nussberg Bunker. Photo credit: Team Fabienne B\u00fcchner, Josephin Schwarz, Marcus Wolter<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The hidden room \u2013 a time frozen in history. A historical reconstruction of the Nussberg Bunker. Photo credit: Team Fabienne B\u00fcchner, Josephin Schwarz, Marcus Wolter<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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In \u201cThe Breathing Bunker\u201d, a fog machine is used to direct fog in a controlled manner through an existing ventilation opening, in order to visualise the \u201cair exchange\u201d. Photo credit: Team Tobias Br\u00fcning, Yasin Sagir and Kamila Schneider<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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An intervention in the urban landscape that could draw attention to the bunker in a subtle way. \"The Breathing Bunker\" involves using a fog machine to direct fog in a controlled manner through an existing ventilation opening, in order to make the \"air exchange\" visible. Photo credit: Team Tobias Br\u00fcning, Yasin Sagir and Kamila Schneider<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The \"Testudo\" team explored the theme of camouflage at the former Nussberg air-raid shelter. Photo credit: Team Joris Gomolla, Kilian Serre-Gruberbauer and Henrik Steinert<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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Well disguised: Who can spot the person hiding in the mirrored structure? Photo credit: Team Joris Gomolla, Kilian Serre-Gruberbauer and Henrik Steinert<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Taking this site as their starting point, the students examined historical air-raid shelters in Braunschweig, particularly observation bunkers and shrapnel-proof cells, and how they have been transformed within the urban landscape. The students were led by Stella Flatten and Gergely L\u00e1szl\u00f3 (both from the IAK) and Professor Christian Kehrt (IfG). They focused specifically on the former observation bunker on the Nussberg; the bunker on Knochenhauerstra\u00dfe, which was built on the ruins of the destroyed “New Synagogue”; the hospital bunker on Cellerstra\u00dfe, which is located on the site of today’s Municipal Hospital; and a Westermann anti-shrapnel shelter (“one-man bunker”) in Braunschweig’s inner harbour.<\/p>\n

Bunkers as enduring structures of power<\/h3>\n

At the heart of their discussion were questions regarding the continued presence of historical air-raid shelters: How do places with a troubled past change through use? When does protection become camouflage, and when does it become a political gesture? In engagement with Paul Virilio\u2019s “Bunker Archaeology”, which describes the Atlantic Wall as a legacy of military logic that shapes the landscape, bunkers were understood not merely as structures, but as enduring structures of power that continue to have an impact right up to the present day. She also considered shelters in current conflicts. \u201cDue to the current geopolitical situation, bunkers are suddenly coming back into focus,\u201d says Gergely L\u00e1szl\u00f3.<\/p>\n

The seminar combined historical research, historical contextualisation, artistic methods and site-specific analysis. \u201cFor the history students, this meant it was no ordinary seminar,\u201d says Professor Christian Kehrt. The students carried out research in the city archives and found sources relating to the expropriation and repurposing of land for bunker construction in Braunschweig\u2019s old town. During site visits and bunker tours (facilitated, amongst others, by the historian Dr Christian Werner), they also examined the protective architecture of these spaces and conducted interviews with contemporary witnesses. One question, for example, was how today\u2019s users \u2013 whether as disco-goers or residents \u2013 perceive former bunker structures. In the course of their research projects, the students found that visible contextualisation and historical information are often lacking. \u201cThese places are lost within the urban landscape,\u201d says Stella Flatten. \u201cThey are unwanted architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The artistic performance \u201cVaporous Bodies\u201d took place in the outdoor area and the adjacent woodland of the Institute for Architecture-Related Art. Photo credit: Stella Flatten<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The foggy figure symbolises the concealment of the past. Photo credit: Stella Flatten<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n \n

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Still from the stop-motion film \"Unbombable Archives\". Photo credit: Stella Flatten<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The seminar group at Braunschweig harbour, next to the Westermann splinter protection cell. Photo credit: Marie R\u00f6pke<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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Performance: \"Disappearing whilst Connecting\". Photo credit: Stella Flatten<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The spatial installation \u201cVerschwinden im Verbinden\u201d at the former bunker on Nussberg in Braunschweig. Photo credit: Sief Kuban<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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A performance offering a commentary on the historical fabric of the former air-raid shelter on the Nussberg. Photo credit: Sief Kuban<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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Facade projection of the work \"Alternative Realities\". Photo credit: Team Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The projection really comes into its own in the dark. Photo credit: Team Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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As well as the projection, the students also built a model of the building featuring the planned fa\u00e7ade. Photo credit: Team Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The model was based on a piece of cast concrete that the students found near the IAK in the Querumer Forest. Photo credit: Team Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler <\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The hidden room \u2013 a time frozen in history. A historical reconstruction of the Nussberg Bunker. Photo credit: Team Fabienne B\u00fcchner, Josephin Schwarz, Marcus Wolter<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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The hidden room \u2013 a time frozen in history. A historical reconstruction of the Nussberg Bunker. Photo credit: Team Fabienne B\u00fcchner, Josephin Schwarz, Marcus Wolter<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

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In \u201cThe Breathing Bunker\u201d, a fog machine is used to direct fog in a controlled manner through an existing ventilation opening, in order to visualise the \u201cair exchange\u201d. Photo credit: Team Tobias Br\u00fcning, Yasin Sagir and Kamila Schneider<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

\n \"\"\/\n
<\/div>\n \n

<\/h3>\n

An intervention in the urban landscape that could draw attention to the bunker in a subtle way. \"The Breathing Bunker\" involves using a fog machine to direct fog in a controlled manner through an existing ventilation opening, in order to make the \"air exchange\" visible. Photo credit: Team Tobias Br\u00fcning, Yasin Sagir and Kamila Schneider<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

\n \"\"\/\n
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<\/h3>\n

The \"Testudo\" team explored the theme of camouflage at the former Nussberg air-raid shelter. Photo credit: Team Joris Gomolla, Kilian Serre-Gruberbauer and Henrik Steinert<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n

\n \"\"\/\n
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<\/h3>\n

Well disguised: Who can spot the person hiding in the mirrored structure? Photo credit: Team Joris Gomolla, Kilian Serre-Gruberbauer and Henrik Steinert<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Camouflage through mist<\/h3>\n

In their term papers, the students examined the shelters, exploring various methods and approaches. They created performances, installations and concepts that redefined protection as not just a structural shell, but also as an action, a process and a collective strategy. For instance, the art performance \u201cVaporous Bodies\u201d by Le\u00f3n Klotz Garcia and Jan Saalman translates the idea of protection into an atmospheric, space-filling form. Fog becomes a protective shell for the human body. The fog-filled space also alludes to the concealment of the past. This is comparable to the bunker on Knochenhauerstra\u00dfe, which was intended to be disguised externally as a townhouse in order to conceal its actual purpose.<\/p>\n

The work \u201cAlternative Realities\u201d by Rena Brockman, Milan Reusch and Thor Wendler also dealt with the bunker, on the site of which Braunschweig\u2019s New Synagogue stood until the pogroms of 9 November 1938. The students\u2019 idea was to project the fa\u00e7ade design originally planned for the bunker \u2013 featuring a mock half-timbered structure \u2013 onto the bunker\u2019s fa\u00e7ade using projectors, thereby depicting a possible alternative reality. In addition to the projection, the students also built a model of the building featuring the planned fa\u00e7ade. This was based on a piece of cast concrete that the students found near the IAK in the Querumer Forest.<\/p>\n

Knowledge as Protection<\/h3>\n

For the installation “Unbombable Archives”, Max Kolditz set up a collection of academic books inside a blast-proof chamber at Braunschweig harbour. It illustrates how academic work and critical information gathering create values that protect against manipulation, disinformation and propaganda.<\/p>\n