Chicken tower
| Chicken tower | |
|---|---|
 Chicken tower |
|
| Data | |
| place | Berlin-Neukölln |
| architect | Günther Göde |
| Client | Günther Göde |
| Construction year | 1966 |
| height | 40 m |
| Coordinates | 52 ° 27 '41.8 " N , 13 ° 28' 2.2" E |
A ten-story building opened in 1967 in an industrial area in the Berlin district of Neukölln was known as the Hühnerhochhaus . At that time the largest battery in Europe with a capacity of 150,000 laying hens was housed here. Animal rights activists protested against the facility. The building of the house triggered the question of whether free-range eggs should be preferred to cage-bred products.
In 1972 the plant was closed due to a lack of profitability. The high-rise was preserved and is used by several commercial enterprises.
construction
In 1966, construction began on the house on Boschweg in an industrial area in the southeast of what was then the Neukölln district, close to the border with East Berlin . The client was the architect Günther Göde, who had previously designed other battery packs. He was supported by several partners, plus considerable public funding. Göde was also the owner of the property and founded an operating company for the project. The plant was considered to be "Europe's largest hen silo". The house was used for 150,000 animals, an expansion to 250,000 chickens was planned. This extension was not implemented.
The building is made of concrete with aluminum cladding and is 40 meters high, 40 meters long and 18 meters wide. The construction costs amounted to 10 million DM .
Criticism of the project
The construction of the facility led to violent protests from animal rights activists.
“The construction of the Europa Center elicited praise and recognition from the Berliners; On the other hand, they are storming against the ten-story new reinforced concrete building in Neukölln, invoking their proverbial love for animals. "
The Berlin Animal Welfare Association called for housewives to pay attention when shopping whether the eggs come from "free" or "imprisoned" chickens. In 1967, Bernhard Grzimek turned to Agriculture Minister Hermann Höcherl to protest against the facility. It was Grzimek's first use against chickens in cages, and a number of others followed. Grzimek referred to the physical harm that the chickens would suffer from "cruelty to animals" and wrote:
"We would lose any right to protest against the annual songbird murder in Italy, the bullfights and similar atrocities if we continued to tolerate the situation in question here."
On the initiative of SPD MP Fritz Büttner , who was critical of the project, the Interior Committee of the German Bundestag visited the chicken tower in 1969 . The visit produced a comparatively positive impression, in particular rumors that the chickens would tear their feathers because of the tightness could not be confirmed.
Residents criticized the unpleasant smell caused by drying the chicken manure. There were first complaints as early as 1967, when the facility was only occupied with 27,000 instead of 150,000 hens at the end. After several legal disputes, the manure was finally not dried in the property and this was removed and dried elsewhere.
Operation as a battery pack
It was planned that the chicken tower should cover one seventh to one eighth of West Berlin's need for eggs. The laying hens came to the facility when they were four months old, where they lived for eight months and were then slaughtered. This meant that almost 20,000 new hens were brought into the property every month. The day and night cycles in the house were implemented using artificial lighting circuits. The chickens were housed in special cages owned by a British company. Forage was spread automatically, the eggs were collected and the manure was transported to a drying system. About 40 tons of droppings were produced every day. 30 employees were required to run the entire company.
On the basis of "animal psychological calculations", which considered 500 cm² of floor space for a hen to be sufficient, the boxes had an area of 2000 cm² for four animals each. The time reflected the point of view of the responsible veterinarian:
“Three chickens can stand parallel, one takes up the background in a sideways position. If the rear chicken is hungry or thirsty, it can push one of the front chickens backwards in ten minutes. And that is a very collegial rhythm. "
Financially, the plant did not develop positively. On the one hand, the costs for keeping them in the skyscraper were quite high from the start, among other things, the eggs first had to be transported by elevator to the sorting facility on the ground floor. On the other hand, 1970 was the economically most difficult year for the West Berlin chicken industry in 20 years. The high-rise was able to hold the number of 150,000 chickens, while in the other West Berlin establishments from a total of 180,000 chickens, 50,000 were abolished. In the following year the market situation did not improve and egg prices continued to fall. On March 31, 1972, chicken rearing in the high-rise was stopped due to a lack of profitability . The income from the sale of the dried manure was also insufficient to cover the high operating costs. The cheap plastic boxes from English production turned out to be unsuitable for everyday use. The manure belts often tore. A contemporary report wrote that the all-plastic battery "experienced its Waterloo in the Berlin chicken tower". After replacing the boxes with other devices, the system worked, but was not profitable.
Later use
The building was designed from the outset for possible use as a warehouse, and after the installation of windows also for offices. Although at the time of the closure of the chicken facility, continued use was viewed with skepticism due to the lower load-bearing capacity of the ceilings, various moisture damage, the smell in the then windowless building and an excess supply of office space at the time, the building could be preserved. It is used as a commercial building by various, mostly smaller, companies, and TÜV Rheinland uses two floors as a training center.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e chickens in the skyscraper . In: Der Spiegel , 37/1966, pp. 77-78. on-line
- ↑ a b c d Deutsche Geflügelwirtschaft, 24 (1972), p. 326.
- ↑ a b c d e f Deutsche Geflügelwirtschaft, 24 (1972), p. 167.
- ↑ a b c d e f Klaus Simon: There is no more cackling. 250,000 chickens from Oldenburg are moving into Berlin's newest high-rise. In: Die Zeit , 45/1966, p. 14. online .
- ↑ a b c d e f Marie-Luise Scherer: Berliner Gegacker in: Die Zeit , No. 08/1968, p. 7. online
- ↑ Berlin Statistics: Monthly , Kulturbuch-Verlag, Volumes 21–22 (1967) p. 43.
- ^ Agricultural Central Gazette: Landtechnik , Volume 13, Akademie-Verlag Berlin 1966, p. 1535.
- ↑ Claudia Sewig: The man who loved animals. Bernhard Grzimek: biography. , Bastei Lübbe, 2011, p. 320.
- ^ German Bundestag, 246th session, Bonn, July 2, 1969. online , p. 42. (pdf)
- ^ Deutsche Geflügelwirtschaft, 23 (1971), p. 92.
- ^ Deutsche Geflügelwirtschaft, 24 (1972), p. 1058.