Location | Leipziger Platz 16, D-10117 Berlin |
Client | High Gain House Investments GmbH |
Building period | 2013–2014 |
Procedure | Competition 2010 |
The facade design seeks to reinterpret the historical look and typology of Berlin’s commercial buildings and to express this in a contemporary architectural idiom. Taking the existing structural planning for the building as the point of departure, the design aims to strike a balance between articulating the building’s specific individual identity and contributing to the harmonious unity of the re-developed urban space envisaged in Hilmer and Sattler’s master plan. The design of the facade facing Leipziger Platz conveys a sense of the building’s urban functions (commercial, office and residential utilisation) by varying the external facade motifs. Recessed sections provide optical relief in response to the pronounced cornicing, creating a vertical facade structuring that seems to soar upwards. Echoing the other architecture nearby, Jura limestone panels with various finishes were selected for the cladding: the horizontal elements are polished, in contrast to the piers, which are bush-hammered (grooved). The relief effect this creates is further intensified by the concealed frame profiles of the windows.