Leisure Time

Abstract

This thesis investigates the intersections of architecture, control, and the leisure economy in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), focusing on how leisure spaces like the SEZ (Sports- und Erholungszentrum) were designed to manage and script everyday life of East Berlin in the latter decade of the communist regime in Germany. Using a conceptual framework of themed design and experience architecture, it explores how public spaces were spatialised to control the population, with narrative design and visual techniques for enticing large scale participation in state-sanctioned relaxation and leisure in a surveilled environment. The study examines how GDR architects adapted international trends in leisure design to fit socialist political goals, institutionalising leisure as a tool of control over free time. It also considers the evolving role of leisure spaces since reunification, where control has shifted from totalitarian domination to more complex negotiations between the state and citizens.
Archival research traces the cultural, political, and architectural motivations behind these designs, highlighting the multivalent nature of leisure architecture, even in totalitarian regimes. The thesis also discusses the impacts that economic restructuring in Germany after 1990 had on GDR owned buildings such as SEZ, urban voids and Zwischennutzung. Sources include materials from the Bundesarchiv in Berlin and the Friedrichshian-Kreuzberg Archiv.