Since he was referred to recently, I happened to wandering around the web and discovered there was some relatively new material floating around, which was considered to have been lost. By coincidence, the BBC was running some arts related programmes this week, and one included an hour long feature on Speer, made only a couple of years before he died, by the same man who interviews him almost 20 years before, in 1970 and 1979 - they're only short excerpts:

Albert Speer interviews

There's also an intriguing site I found which covers his work, with numerous photographs from the time, which is significant, as the Allies largely went on a spree of destruction after their victory, and smashed almost every building and structure they could, if it had been built on Hitler's instruction.

There were very few survivors - many lasted only because they were in the east, and the Communists preferred to make use of the buildings that were already there. Only now are they under threat, as redevelopment of the re-united Germany has reached these areas, and questions are asked as to whether the building should be retained and reused, or flattened and turned into something new.

the architect of the 20th century -Albert Speer

I guess few will agree with me, but I should have gone down the architecture route - rather than the switch to engineering I made - and I understand what the the young Speer saw back in the 1930s, and how the mood of the time caught his imagination. It's easy to dismiss him as just another Nazi, and of being at Hitler's side, but I can see how he would have been wrapped up and carried along by having such a sponsor, and of being given what amounted to a blank cheque for every project - accompanied by a directive to make sure it was delivered.

Speer never steered his own course, but was always placed by the Fuhrer, and it has to be said, had no choice regarding those placements, and positions such Minister of Armaments - which he was put in for his management skills, not architectural abilities, didn't come with an option of "No thank you, I'd rather design buildings".

Speer can still make the news! You're right Apollo, "Speer never steered his own course". He did what he was told and generally did it well. The only occasion i recall when he did his own thing was with regard to destroying all the bridges in German cities to slow down the Allies advancing into Germany, as ordered by Hitler. I guess he deserves some credit for this.

You also forget one other thing he did on his own.

Hitler ordered that Germany basically have a scorched earth policy enacted on them, so that the Allies would not capture anything in one piece.  Speer refused to carry that order out.

Thanks for that reminder about the bridges. I'd only come across it once before and it had slipped my mind.

One of the poignant points that Speer admitted in the film was the fact that while designing and building for the 1,000 year Reich to Hitler's instructions, which could be summarised as an order to produce structures that would dominate all who saw them, he thought he was also overseeing works that would stand for that time. He reflected that in reality, nearly all of them were lying in ruins only four years later.

The Fuhrer's instructions for the Reich Chancellery included an order that the marble floor that approached his office be kept highly polished and slippery.

The Chancellry was a linear building, and visiting foreign diplomats had to walk much of its length through the imposing and impressive interior, another ploy to put them in there place, and Hitler stated that the walk over the polished marble was deliberately intended to unsettle them and shake their confidence as they negotiated its length, and keep their footing before entering his office.

I don't know if it was designed by Speer or not, but Berlin Templehof airport is due to close to commercial traffic, and it was designed in the same era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempelhof_International_Airport

According to Wiki, it wasn't a Speer design, but seems to have been part of Speers vision, but designed by another architect, so its probable there was some input from Speer.

I really hope the building doesn't get demolished, even partially, partially because I really like the Art Deco period of design, and secondly I would have thought it was important historically.

The closure of Templehof, for which one can read its eventual destruction for redevelopment if there is no plan, as covered a few months ago on television, with part of an documentary about underground Germany touring the accessible sections which included the tunnels and production areas where aircraft were manufactured and repaired. The tunnels were marginally wider than the aircraft, and these were moved by suspended tracks.

As you note, not an original Speer design: "The Tempelhof airport was planned by the architect Ernst Sagebiel and built from 1937 until 1941. At the time of its completion, it was thought to be the worlds second largest building. Nowadays, featuring extensive subterranean installations, it is in use as a regional airport and also houses many companies":

Templehof airport underground

"World's second largest building", so the Hitler directive was already making itself felt.

German sites seem to provide more and better info for these installations, but they seem to have diminished since the documentary was aired earlier this year, or my searches and links from then are not working very well now

Interesting pictures and information about Templehof. It's surprising it was never used by the Luftwaffe as an active fighter squadron station in view of the heavy bombing to which Berlin was subjected, bearing in mind their superb early airraid-warning system. Must have been one helluva place to have been stationed when the Red Army was hammering on its door!