In Berlin, old brick industrial buildings are never far away. Here, near Moritzplatz, commerce and vibrant nightlife once flourished side by side. Even during the Wall years, this neighborhood thrived – and it continues to do so today. The Armaturenwerke Bernhard Joseph AG, a renowned fittings manufacturer founded in 1898, operated from Lobeckstraße and Ritterstraße before merging with Aqua-Butzke. The production facility remained active through the 1990s, embodying 125 years of architectural evolution. The latest transformation began in 2017 and is still unfolding: Hamburg and Berlin-based architect Karsten Groot has masterfully reimagined, restored, and expanded significant portions of the original complex. The patchwork quality of the result is hardly surprising—successive additions over decades created layers of architecture, with new interventions now sitting atop older ones. The three-part extension and conversion project starts at Lobeckstraße, where a two-story 1970s structure stands—originally conceived as a four-story building but left incomplete. Groot completed the vision by adding the missing floors plus an additional level, creating generous office spaces. The distinctive, period-appropriate colored socle façade was carefully restored. The new upper stories feature a glass façade with aluminum louvers engineered for solar control. A striking red-orange sky bridge arcs across an internal courtyard, linking the new section to the heritage building and its remarkably intact courtyard façade facing Ritterstraße. War damage required careful remediation here. The historic mansard roof was meticulously restored. Working within heritage conservation constraints, Groot achieved an impressive roofscape with four sculptural peaks at the building corners. Roof terraces now overlook Berlin from every direction. The third component—a robust precast concrete addition on Ritterstraße—adjoins the historic clinker façade with modern trapezoidal window openings that punctuate its street elevation. Today, Aqua-Carré functions as a thriving creative workspace: home to startups, design studios, offices, fashion labels, and a recording studio.

www.karstengroot-architektur.de

Photography:

Ulrich Schwarz
www.ulrichschwarz.eu

(Published in CUBE Berlin 02|24)