The Importance of Getting Lost: Kurstraße

The importance of getting lost, of getting off the beaten track, of being surrounded by the unknown… A feeling that can lead you to discover unexpected things and probably better ones than what you had expected.

You really get to know a new city when you get lost in it. That way you can find places not read on travel guides and which only appear on native websites… or not even that. Getting lost isn’t related to fear, but to the will of meeting new faces and finding out new buildings or landscapes.

We did get lost. We did it on our first day visiting Berlin. Our hand was holding a map, but unconsciously we changed our way because a street was being repaired. Instead of getting to Bebelplatz, we ended up in a street named Kurstraße.

Located in Mitte, Kurstraße could be a street from Berlin, London or New York City. At first sight it’s not a street that would catch somebody’s eye. Only if you seat on one of its benches you will realize its architectural beauty. These benches are placed in a wide green area that highlights the magnitude of the buildings, which are a sequence of little blocks with several peculiarities, such as the colour combinations, the contrasts of the windows’ and balcony’s shapes, or the doors’ design. They will leave no one indifferent.

It’s a quiet street, without stores, but businesses and little offices. Nevertheless, it’s surrounded by different shops and restaurants that are tied to the environment. Chipps is an example, a space with an open kitchen that you can see from the outside thanks to its glass walls. Its lighting indicates that it’s a kind of exclusive place -not because of its price, but because of their target-. Its corporate identity is the one that you can find nowadays in any cosmopolitan city: it’s a mix of nostalgia and minimalism.

Text and pictures by Silvia Conde.