Growth for Siemensstadt
Part of the gigantic site was developed into the "Techno Campus"
The former wasteland in the west of Berlin bore the name "Nonnenwiesen" (nuns' meadows) - a reference to the Benedictine nuns who owned the area. The Nonnendamm street, where Siemensstadt was built at the end of the 19th century, still exists today.
An L-shaped new building now forms the eastern end of the site: the so-called "Techno Campus", built from 2020-2022 according to plans by architect Sergei Tchoban. The seven-storey new building matches the mighty existing buildings designed by architect Hans C. Hertlein for Siemens-Halske in the 1920s. Together, the two groups of buildings form today's campus with an area of over 50,000m2. Since the renovation of the old building fabric in 2009, the old industrial buildings have been used by various companies. Tchoban also designed another small, L-shaped new building at the opposite corner of the site. This created two courtyards with spacious green areas, which further emphasize the campus character of the site. The even perforated façades of the new buildings represent a contemporary response to the calm, self-assured historic brick buildings. It was a challenging task to add an appropriate addition to Hertlein's iconic, radically sober Wernerwerk high-rise, which has become a cultural monument. No other building material than solid brick was considered here, although not a classic red one, but a light, sandstone-colored one. The inner courtyards are planted with greenery and offer employees places to spend time. There is a café, two restaurants and various sports facilities on the first floors.
The office space on the floors above can be zoned as required, for example for companies that move in here with their entire workforce or for the needs of coworking spaces with boxes, telephone booths, tea kitchens or communal areas. Green roof terraces have been made accessible as exits through openable skylight domes. Under the campus courtyard is an underground car park with 177 parking spaces, 30 of which have electric charging stations. A wide range of energy-saving measures were implemented, thanks to which the project was certified with DGNB Platinum.
Photos:
Stefan Josef Müller
www.stefanjosefmueller.de
(Published in CUBE Berlin 03|24)
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