Eckwerk Berlin

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Project by GRAFT Architects in collaboration with Kleihues+Kleihues.
[Part of the Graft design team]

The architectural collaboration of graft and kleihues + kleihues architekten have developed ‘eckwerk’, an ensemble of buildings for living and working in berlin, germany.

Under the framework of open dialog the two architecture firms Graft and Kleihues + Kleihues, as well as the Genossenschaft für urbane Kreativität (Cooperative for urban Creativity) developed an exemplary complex of buildings which seeks to find answers to the social, economic and ecological questions of our times. The central idea is to create an inspiring and vivid place which sets new benchmarks with respect to the relationship between work and living as well as between public life and privacy. Start of construction is planned for 2015 on the northern part of the Holzmarkt- area along the Spree which was home to the legendary Bar 25 up until 2011.

The design for the so-called Eckwerk takes on the characteristics and qualities of the location. In particular, it refers to the Stadtbahnviadukt, which runs like a golden thread through the centre of the city and gives identity to the property at hand. The base of the design is a pedestal which aligns with the streets stretching out as a backdrop, follows the progression of the viaduct in a two-storey fashion and, on the northern side, expands vertically in topographic steps.

Exterior Persprctive

Inspired by the materiality and the form language of the viaduct, a place of interaction which goes beyond the building itself is created between the latter and the pedestal in the form of an alley from which the main entrances can be reached and from which public functions can be accessed.

The pedestal elevates the main level to the same height as the viaduct and allows, like a city balcony, a direct look onto the water. On the pedestal five independently accessible towers are arranged, each providing to a maximum degree well exposed and highly flexible surfaces which can be used either for working or living.

The terraced landscape is designed as a multi-storey marketplace and interfuses, as an expansion area for Co-Working Spaces, the floor plan of the towers. In order to allow using these throughout all seasons the area is covered by a climate shell in the form of a delicate structure composed of steel and glass.

The decision to separate the construction volume in separate towers is not only an attempt to meet the requirements of proportions but also creates the feeling of open space through manifold views and outlooks, which in turn achieves to remove the boundaries between house and city (private and public). In addition, qualitative hierarchy on the property is eliminated through the sliding scale of the towers' height towards the south. A direct visual contact to the Spree is maintained, even from the "second row".

Interior Perspective - Co-Working Space

Building Explosion

Buildig Functions

Exemplary Floor Plan | 4th Floor

Exemplary Modular Facade Built Up

Exemplary Tower Facade

Experience Path Diagram

Experience Path Perception

Void Layout

Experience Path Interior Perspective

Graft Project Team:
Wolfram Putz, Lars Krückeberg and Thomas Willemeit
with Marvin Bratke and Sven Fuchs,

and Kudzai Magoche, Primosz Strazar, Alexandra Zaiko, Alexandra Tobescu, Sebastian Gernhard
Client:
Gesellschaft für Urbane Kreativität
Location:
Berlin, Germany
Structural Engineer:
Büro Schlaich

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