Like the jangled sounds of Berlin’s legendary techno scene, the city’s architecture is just as discordant—with each significant historical period putting its indelible time stamp on the cityscape.

“One of Berlin’s attractions is that it’s not so homogenous as say, Paris or London,” says Phil Misselwitz, a professor at the Institute for Architecture of the Technische Universität Berlin. “It’s been shaped and characterized by so many ruptures from war, destruction, and ideology that there are a vast variety of buildings.” Indeed, the city’s appeal lies in how many different styles coexist—from the imposing Soviet-era architecture in the East to the classical structures with stucco exteriors of upmarket areas such as Charlottenburg and Prenzlauer Berg, and Bauhaus and Brutalist designs in the West.