PORTFOLIO

Grand boulevards are monumental witnesses of their time. Their architectural beauty and splendour have endured for centuries. They were and are the scene of political and cultural changes. In addition to government buildings, they are home to the most famous cultural institutions, and to this day are promenades for locals and the first port of call for tourists. Nevertheless, the fashionable boulevards, the former symbols of cultural representation, cannot be viewed exclusively with romanticised longing and nostalgia today. Global issues are also leaving their mark here. Major luxury brands, international property companies and questions about climate-neutral urban planning are changing the view of these unique boulevards. The desire to preserve the history, but also to keep an eye on the future, the question of how the utilisation can and must change, all of this concerns people who live there, or cultural managers and politicians who look after their city. Old façades must be preserved and should shine in new splendour. Traffic and transformation must be carefully organised and, last but not least, the boulevards are home and workplace for many people. In four episodes, we portray Unter den Linden in Berlin, Andrássy út in Budapest, Ulica Piotrkowska in Łódź, Poland and the classic par excellence, the Champs-Élysées in Paris.