Berlin Tegel Airport was once one of the most efficient and beloved airports in the world. Built during the Cold War in just 90 days during the Berlin Airlift, Tegel became a symbol of engineering practicality, political resilience, and human-centered design — before eventually being abandoned in 2020.

In this episode, we explore the complete rise and fall of Berlin Tegel Airport through the lens of civil engineering, architecture, construction management, infrastructure planning, and urban development.

We break down:

• The engineering principles behind Tegel’s famous hexagonal terminal design
• How Cold War politics shaped infrastructure decisions
• Why Tegel worked so well for decades
• The operational and scalability challenges that eventually emerged
• The environmental and urban planning pressures ...