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with it, absolutely.” This worked out. The article shows ceiling-high glass surfaces, sneak into the grounds, take the freight elevator. The Bond set was stripped down to
smooth walls painted shiny yellow, translucent curtains and the “mock-up box”, a win- the concrete supports. Now, in 2018, machines that produce machines are standing
dowless room-in-the-room where light moods were tested. Mr Smida unpacks the orig- here. “May I photograph this?” “It is forbidden”, the foreman says and wipes the metal
inal plans. I look and wonder. The office visions of the future in 1999: everything pencil dust from his furrowed face.
on paper. Each glass suspension, each door hinge individually designed. One can feel Fourth destination: Publicis advertising agency, architects: Katrin von Mallinckrodt and
the diligence, the rigour, the dedication of a young designer to his first work. “A long Maud Winkler-Momberger. I get nervous. Is there nothing left of these office visions for
time ago”, Mr Smida says and strokes the faded transparent paper. “Was the office in the new millennium after less than two decades? Would an office newly furnished in
the rear building, fourth floor, on the right? I’m not sure.” He ponders, shrugs his shoul- 1950 also have landed on the garbage heap after 19 years? Are the millennium clients,
ders. “I’m no longer sure myself. I’ll go there with you if you have a bit of time, all right?” company owners, chairmen of the board no longer proud of what was created together
Second destination: Ledesi creative agency, Berlin-Kreuzberg, architect: Wolfgang with the architects? If something surely hasn’t survived it is this: the office of a French
Staudt. At the time, in 1999, it was really innovative. A curved corner office full of shiny, advertising agency on a whole factory floor in one of the most fashionable blocks of
curved walls of gauze and wooden supports. Airplane constructors had assisted, as the Berlin-Mitte. The AIT article shows elegance, luxury even: wide hallways, walls painted
article reported full of amazement, in calculating the supports. The address listed in the signal red, discrete, indirect lighting. A touch of ocean liner, of Art Deco and Coco Chanel
article turns out to be one of these typical Berlin old-building-back yard labyrinths. A wafts through the office hallways. Très chic! In 1999, it must still have been unimaginable
Ledesi creative agency is not found on any of the door signs. But media firms. Hundreds that, in the not too distant future, bearded hipsters would be sprawling on the floor with
of them! The new darlings of the investors. I shall not find it. But yes, AIT shows the their laptops, would play table football during breaks and would still be slaving away
floor plan after all. There! Not an old building. A curved annex. I ring the bell, time pass- three o’clock in the morning after the after-work party. Publicis has moved long ago, now
es. A young woman opens, out of breath. “It’s the time of the Berlinale, a lot to do”, she the Aperto digital agency resides here, a subsidiary of the IBM Company. Well, that was
says. Whether I could maybe look at the office …? Article, journal of architecture …, it, then, if even a Kreuzberg shared-flat community doesn’t open the doors for me, then
1999, great furnishing … may I take photographs? She stares at me, surprised, almost certainly not the old giant IBM. I ask, hesitantly, pessimistically and get an answer: “Yes,
shocked. Behind her, I catch sight of the office. The old equipment, the walls by the air- do come by!” I am taken along many hallways, through many staircases, across many
plane constructors: history. Now there are white PVC desks and laptops, an office, the storeys, then a steel door opens and I stand in front of it and can hardly believe it. Here
same as everywhere. She smiles politely, says no and closes the door. in the bubbling middle of Berlin, in the eye of the real-estate hurricane, in the centre of
Third destination: Pixelpark internet service provider, Berlin-Moabit, architect: Frank the New Economy, it has been preserved, the only AIT office vision from 1999. Almost
Wittmer. “A hallway spectacularly immersed in green light from a long aquarium wel- unchanged, only table-soccer has been added as a tribute to the zeitgeist and the walls
comes the visitor and prepares him for his journey into the world of the new media”, are now grey. “Nobody could stand the red”, the Aperto manager says and laughs.
AIT wrote. And what a journey! That aquarium! Ten metres long, one and half metres Outside, the traffic rushes, the Berlin tourists trot past all the office floors that will never
high, weighing twenty tons. “I had never expected that they would really do this”, open for them. My cell phone is ringing. Mr Smida. He would have time now. It is rain-
architect Frank Wittmer says and one can sense his quiet amusement over the phone. ing, we cower, go outside into the old courtyard. He glances up the brick façade. Fourth
“They received a lot of money from the bank and had to show it, they had to represent floor, on the right. “Yes, it is the correct address.” He is suddenly pleased, points to the
something.” Within one year, the share value increased a hundred times. And the com- windows, all excited. “The curtains, they are still there. Those are ours.” His voice sound
pany expanded. Three years later already, the end had come for the old location. I young, young and enthusiastic. Nineteen years, that’s only a wink.

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