Complementing the existing Estrel Hotel, the largest in Germany, a new hotel tower and conference center will establish a new gateway to the center of Berlin from the BER International Airport. The tower at 175 meters (578 feet) will be the tallest high-rise in Berlin to date. Located on the Sonnenalle at the intersection of the Ship Canal, S-Bahn and Autobahn the site is a threshold between the heterogeneous industrial/ residential periphery and the historical neighborhoods of Neukölln. Free from the historical constraints of the center the project is an ensemble of elements revolving around the sloped silhouette of the tower with its roof terrace orienting to the city.
In response to the existing Estrel Hotel and resembling the children’s game “Tangram” the proposal is organized into a series of extruded triangulated volumes of different sizes and heights mediating the tower into the low-rise surrounding neighborhoods. This cascading family of forms, from high to low-scaled, radiates to form two strong orientations: to the street side (Sonnenallee) and to the water side (Ship Canal). Functions are distributed into the different sized volumes including the hotel, an office building, park house, glass-roofed hotel entrance atrium, and the low-flat conference center. This programmatic clarity allows easy phasing variations, which is important for such a large scale development. A ground floor promenade begins with the hotel drop-off which continues into the hotel atrium and on to an arcade fronting the conference center.
Facades compliment the idea of “similar but distinct” building volumes and are articulated to enhance the verticality of the individual parts of the ensemble in metal and glass.
Architects — Barkow Leibinger, Berlin, Frank Barkow, Regine Leibinger
Team — Michael Ahlers, Martina Bauer, Ana Filipovic, Pierre Guérin, Nadja Jeske, Ki Jun Kim, Richard Sharam, Tyler Swingle, Patrick Unger, Lukas Weder, Jens Weßel, Leonie Woltermann
Program
Hotel, Offices, Event Spaces
Location
Berlin, Germany
Invited Competiton – 1st Prize
2013/2014
Client
Estrel Hotel-Betriebs-GmbH
Structural Engineer
B+G Ingenieure Bollinger + Grohmann GmbH, Berlin
Mechanical Engineer
Rentschler und Riedesser, Filderstadt
Energy Design
Transsolar Energietechnik GmbH, Stuttgart
Landscape
Hager Partner AG, Berlin
Elevator Consultant
Jappsen Ingenieure GmbH, Berlin
Traffic Consultant
Ingenieurbüro Vössing Vepro GmbH, Berlin
Fire Protection Consultant
hhpBerlin, Ingenieure für Brandschutz GmbH, Berlin
Renderings
bloomimages
Model Photos
© Werner Huthmacher
© Monath + Menzel