THE FLAKTÜRME CURTAINS

The Flak Towers project reimagines the World War II Flak Towers once indestructible fortresses of war as living monuments that reconnect history with humanity. For decades, these massive concrete structures have stood abandoned, heavily burdening their cities and remaining extremely costly to demolish. With walls reaching up to 2.5 meters thick, their destruction would require extensive explosives, enormous funding, and would result in severe environmental pollution and damage to surrounding residential areas.

Instead of erasing these structures, the project proposes a wiser and more human approach: revival through reuse. By preserving the towers and activating them with new layers, the design transforms symbols of fear into platforms for social, cultural, and ecological regeneration.

The intervention is based on a flexible, modular steel framework that wraps around the towers like a curtain capable of opening, closing, and reconfiguring according to changing needs. This adaptable system redefines the towers as interactive, ever-changing spaces, allowing new programs to emerge without harming the historic concrete cores. Designed as a prototype, the system can be installed on any Flak Tower whether in Vienna, Berlin, or Hamburg responding to different urban contexts while maintaining a unified architectural language.

Spatially, the project narrates a journey from darkness to light, from isolation to openness. Inside the towers, the heavy remnants of war are preserved as spaces of memory and reflection. Surrounding them, colorful and open layers represent the vitality of the present and the optimism of the future. The contrast between old and new creates an immersive experience that merges the weight of history with renewed human energy.

Ultimately, the Flak Towers Curtains stand as an architectural manifesto for adaptive reuse, an economic and environmental alternative to demolition that transforms rigid monuments of war into flexible, living, and inclusive urban structures.