(Berliner Luft- und Badeparadies)
My first time in Berlin, I didn’t know anyone local to stay with, and I was an adventurous solo traveler. While I was teaching in Istanbul and planning my trip, I turned to couchsurfing and ended up linking with an Italian host, Giuseppe. He was friendly and gave great advice about what to do and how to get around. He was working a lot while hosting but wanted to hang out when he had the time. He hosted me and a Polish woman, Iza, at the same time. He and Iza were interested in exploring abandoned places and started talking about places around Berlin we could possibly explore.
Over the years while traveling, I would always peep into empty places to glimpse some cool structure or street art. However, I did not really seek out abandoned spots specifically to explore thoroughly because I mostly traveled solo. I was inexperienced and didn’t want to find myself in an unsafe situation with no one else to rely on. When they told me about this place- BLUB, I was at attention and ready to go explore with experienced guidance.
Blub was located in Neukölln, and it seemed as if it was a pretty well-known place. There were other people there when we arrived and I’ve since seen pictures of the same place from other friends who have also visited there. It seemed to be a very popular place when it was around, and I imagine it was known by local Berliners and explorers since it had been closed to the public.
Looking back, I can’t believe how easy it was to walk up onto this property and into the building. I don’t even remember if there was any kind of blockade at all. If there was a barrier, it was obviously very easy to avoid because nothing sticks out in this memory from 2015.
When we arrived, we walked this path and saw pieces of water slides laying on the ground leading up to the outdoor pool and entrance of the building. At one of the entrances, there was part of a glass walkway that had been spray-painted and pieces of it broken. It looked kaleidoscopic at some points or like pieces of the puzzle were missing- very visually stimulating.
There was some kind of pool or lazy river around the main building as well as a large outdoor pool and swimming area.
Once we entered the actual building, we could see every single inch of the place covered in graffiti, tags, and street art. It blew my mind. The amount of art was overwhelming. I really was eager to document as much as I could. It was magnificent to see monumental and vibrant art pieces in an old aquapark serving as a crumbling gallery. Some artists that I’ve seen all over the world had their tags displayed and it impressed me so much!
It was pretty easy to access every part of the building, we just had to be careful about broken glass and debris on the floor. The light came in naturally in most parts of the building, one of the biggest perks of insisting on exploring during the day.
There was a huge open area which probably was the largest indoor pool with these little domes off to the side. Unique tags and pieces everywhere on the equally exceptional architectural aspects of an indoor aquacenter contributed to this informal gallery. You can see some of the aqua-scaping in the photos with faux rocks and trees that add to the atmosphere.
As I continued to roam the building and imagine what each part of the building was, I found remnants of the bathhouse. There were arches and some tiles in the style of hamams I’ve seen in Muslim places and spaces. This made sense to me since there was a large Turkish population living in this part of Berlin. Of course there was more graffiti and tags on every inch of surface.
Around the hamam area, there seemed to be remnants of a locker room with benches, perhaps to a changing area. There were also weird features/frames around some smaller pool/tub areas.
I don’t remember any of the smaller rooms or structures and we didn’t attempt to get on the roof like the other explorers there at the time. I wish I had documented more of what I saw with my crappy 9 megapixel digital camera, but I hope the pictures I did take give a good enough impression of the space at the time.
This building doesn’t exist anymore. It seems as if it was torn down in 2020 per comments on Abandoned Berlin. I’m so thankful to have met Guiseppe and Iza and learn about how to do this kind of exploration safely. I’m so thankful to have been able to see this little slice of history in Berlin before it was torn down. I’m so thankful to have been introduced to a new way to look, explore, and experience art/culture/ruins.
Brown Beyond Borders 