Elite Traveler May-June 2015

elite traveler MAY/JUNE 2015 ISSUE 3 113

The Bikini Building is now a contemporary shopping center

People watch The guides Katharina Beckmann, Stefanie Gerke & Nele Heinevetter are the women behind NICHE, one of Berlin’s most engaging services. Since 2009 they have offered private tours of the hidden corners of Berlin’s unique design and art scene, from a circuit of the most stand-out Bauhaus buildings to private studio visits with artists such as Fiete Stolte, known for his photographs of eyes with reflections of their owners’ silhouettes in them, and designers such as Wilfried Kühn and Ascan Mergenthaler. They can also organize an urban journey of surprises such as a look inside former army barracks turned living space Antivilla, and sneak peaks into as-yet-unopened art exhibits. nicheberlin.de

AREA FOCUS CHARLOTTENBURG The big news these days is that Berlin’s former West, specifically the uptown neighborhood of Charlottenburg, is trying to appeal to the next generation. Latest hotspots include the Bikini Building, a shapely 1950s building reinvented as a contemporary shopping center with a mix of shops and restaurants. Don’t miss Andreas Murkudis, the city’s beloved style guru and his two shops, or Gestalten, a design-focused concept shop and café. Next door, on the top of the new 25 Hours Hotel, is the rooftop NENI restaurant, an Israeli-inspired eatery with unbeatable views and an upscale comfort food menu of falafel with fresh mint and Har

Bracha tahini and caramelized eggplant with chili, ginger and couscous. No fashionable hood in Berlin can be without a reputable and respected art destination, and in the case of this growing corner of cool near the Zoologischer Garten, that is the much anticipated reopening of the photography institution C/O. Originally located in Postfuramt inMitte, C/O’s new home is the Amerika Haus, a modernist 1950s building. Opening late this spring through to mid August is a Sebastião Salgado exhibition. bikiniberlin.de 25hours-hotels.com co-berlin.org/en

NICHE take you to Berlin’s hidden architectural gems

World War and Cold War espionage. The Berlinische Gallery will re-open this May with an exhibition charting architectural styles of the 1960s. This summer, following extensive renovations, the Kunsthaus Dahlem will open as a venue for post war German modernism art from East and West Germany. spymuseumberlin.com kunsthaus-dahlem.de

COMING SOON Berlin is home to more than 170 museums, including Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site currently being renovated. This year will see several reopenings and debuts. One is the Spy Museum, which will focus on Berlin during the Second

Above Kunsthaus Dahlem opens this summer