The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has added Berlin's Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf to its World Heritage list, expanding the "Housing Estates of the Berlin Modernism" site originally inscribed in 2008. The decision was announced Saturday during the committee's session in Busan, South Korea, which runs through July 29.
Built between 1926 and 1932 by the Gehag housing cooperative under architects Bruno Taut, Hugo Häring and Otto Rudolf Salvisberg, the estate is the largest by area among the Berlin Modernism settlements and is nicknamed the "Parrot Estate" for its vivid colours. The extension brings the overall site to seven estates but does not increase Germany's total World Heritage count, which remains at 55.
Berlin's Senate welcomed the designation, with urban development senator Christian Gaebler saying the Bauhaus-style estate represents an urban planning new beginning.