The new "the niu" hotel, with its striking square form opening toward the west, anchors the emerging Speicherstadt Nord (Northern Warehouse District). Positioned between Telegrafenberg and Potsdam's historic center—home to the state parliament in its reconstructed palace façade and Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Nikolaikirche—this building plays a vital role in shaping the urban landscape near the Havel River. Its subtly angled eastern façade along Heinrich-Mann-Allee presents a bold statement toward the main railway station. Named "the niu Amity," the hotel references friendship—a nod to the Freundschaftsinsel (Friendship Island) that sits across the river.

The Lange Brücke connects seamlessly to the site, its rising trajectory mirrored by the building's ascending roofline. Selected through a competitive design process among five international firms, wolff:architekten from Berlin emerged as the winner. The hotel is part of the Novum Group—a Hamburg-based operator managing 150 hotels with some 20,000 beds across Europe. Rather than conventional roof slopes, the architects designed an inventive polygonal roof landscape, creating a dynamic façade with staggered and cascading eaves. The interior courtyard doubles as a public plaza, designed to draw pedestrians toward the office and residential spaces beyond. A striking, column-free bridge structure on the station side—complete with a sloping glass façade—invites visitors into the interior passage. An open staircase descends six meters across the site to a glazed retail arcade below, where a restaurant, bakery, grocery shops, and co-working spaces will eventually open.

A silver maple, planted in the town square, acts as the "green spine" linking Potsdam Central Station to "Speicherstadt Nord." With three equally strong branches spreading from its base, this tree is both a living element and a striking architectural gesture—its planter extends through the entire building down to the water table. The hotel comprises four above-ground stories and two basement levels, with all 198 rooms arranged in a ring around the central courtyard. Complementing the hotel is "acora Potsdam Living the City," a long-stay residential wing with 72 apartments designed primarily for researchers at the nearby Albert Einstein Science Park. The building took top honors at the 2023 Liv Hospitality Design Award in the "Hotel Economy" category and earned a nomination for the German Design Award 2025 in "Architecture."

www.wolffarchitekten.com

Photography:
wolff:architects / Johannes Armanazi

(Published in CUBE Berlin 03|24)