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Open Courtyard behind Host Family's Apartment 

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Open Courtyard behind Host Family's Apartment 

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This open space right behind my host family's apartment is very well utilized despite its compact size. The family spends lots of time here on nice days during the summer. Whether the laundry is being hung on the line for the next day, the kids are playing on the swing set, or the neighbors are bringing food over to have an outdoor picnic, this courtyard sees a lot of activity whenever the sun is shining.

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In another effort to cut back on energy consumption, most buildings in Germany do not have air conditioning units to fight the heat in summer. Instead, almost every building can be seen with its windows open to let breezes in and keep fresh air circulating through. The windows can be opened wide as seen here, as well as just tilted back in order to keep air flowing through the room even when it is raining. This is a very effective energy saver, as rooms can stay cool even in the heat of summer.

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Even though most of the city of Wittenberg is covered in stones and brick, the language institute at the Leucorea has maximized its limited green space by turning this courtyard into a flourishing garden. This small gate opens up into a large secluded garden behind the school, not only providing fruits and vegetables ripe for the picking, but also a shady spot for students and professors to relax during the day.

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In order to keep the house a bit cleaner and track in less dirt, my host family keeps all of their shoes outside the apartment by the door. While they don't wear house slippers indoors, it is still expected not to wear shoes when walking on the carpet. While many families in the US follow the same practice, there are few that would leave their shoes out in the stairwell walk-up of their apartment, but the mutual trust of the neighbors living in the building is apparent here.

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Because the Königstein Castle sits atop a mountain in the outskirts of Dresden, it needed an easy and useful way to supply water to its inhabitants before proper running water systems were in place.  To remedy this, the original builders constructed this impressively deep well through the mountain down to the river in the valley below.  This architectural feat gave the people of Königstein easier access to fresh drinking water and opened up more opportunities for them to expand.

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In an effort to show how open and honest the German government is, the primary discussion room in the Reichstag has several rows of seats, a viewing platform upstairs, and a transparent glass dome on top. All of this is done in an effort to show how transparent governmental conversations ought to be conducted and to provide an opening into the way the country's leaders are running things.

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Even in a secluded space between buildings, artists in Berlin utilize every opportunity and blank space to share their art and spread their name. Even though popular street art spots such as this will see a new series of murals and paintings within weeks as other artists come and cover up the previous works, up and coming artists in Berlin will still share their time and works here in the effort to spread their ideas and make their names known.

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Connecting the downtown of Hamburg to the primary industrial docks and shipyards, the Elbtunnel was an architectural feat of its time as it was constructed under the river under great pressure. Even though other bridges have been built to improve access the shipyards in Hamburg, the Elbtunnel still serves as an effective pedestrian and vehicle passageway in one of the busiest ports in the world.

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This grand opening foyer within the Berlin Parliament building is an impressive show of architectural ingenuity as well an example of Germany's attentiveness to conservative energy consumption. This huge space is almost completely lit by natural light filtering in through the ceiling, thus cutting down on energy expenditure. Because this grand space serves as the entrance to the Parliamentary Building in the nation's capital, it represents the dedication the country's leader's to the environment.

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Both as an attempt to reduce energy usage and to provide an efficient transportation system spanning between most of its major cities, Germany has created an expansive train system allowing residents to easily travel throughout the country. The Hauptbahnhof of Hamburg lies in the middle of the city, making it very easy for travelers to make their way through the city and also around the whole country.

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As a major port city in northern Germany, Hamburg serves as one of the leading import centers for the country. Because of its strategic location on the banks of the Alster River, many ships can easily bring their cargo into the Hamburg Harbor. This opens up more opportunities for merchants further south in the country and down the Alster River to purchase fish and other fresh goods that they wouldn't normally have access to based on their inland location.

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When it was originally erected, the Brandenburger Tor represented the separation of the regular German people and the ruling aristocratic family. With multiple passageways to walk through at the end of the "Unter den Lindens," only the royal family and the Pfuel family, who oversaw the return of the Quadriga (the chariot statue drawn by four horses) to Berlin during the 19th century, were able to pass through the central pathway. The Brandenburger Tor has evolved over time to represent a symbol of peace after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but in its original construction, it was a sign of separation and distinction among the German people.

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Much like in many large historic houses in Germany, there exist small passageways that connect the front of the buildings to the courtyards in the back. These dimly lit corridors allowed the servants to access the open spaces on either side of their masters' estates without ever having to walk through the house itself and disturbing the residents inside. These passageways show the difference between what is expected of the servants and the owners that actually live in the historic houses.

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In this replica of the door that Martin Luther first posted his 95 Theses, we can see the historic turn in Christianity where the definition of "indulgences" is called into question. With the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, Luther analyzes how Christians come to terms with their sins based on the linguistic interpretation of repentance in the bible. This church is also one of the first where preachers led sermons in German rather than in Latin so that the uneducated masses could understand the readings rather than just the learned elite.

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Around this door are two small seats that Luther's wife Katharine commissioned so that she could share a picturesque moment with her husband from time to time.  At the time, women had very little say in how things were organized, but in order to appease his wife, Luther allowed his wife the freedom to alter this bit of architecture, which in any other case would be unheard at the time.