Archive: The Capital City of Berlin - Documentation

At the southern end of the Paulstraße in Moabit is the former administration building of the Hamburg-Lehrter Freight Railway Station, a red-brick building from the 1930s under historical preservation, which was used by a trucking firm after the war. Since the renovation and a two-storey extension of the building (design by M. Drews, Berlin), an elementary school has been house-here. In addition, a two-storey double sports hall for school and public sports and a children's day-care center were built. The need for approx. 100 day-care places is especially due to the newly-built apartments on the Moabiter Werder. The location of the open spaces guarantees a great deal of sunshine during the day and offers protection from traffic noise. The design for the sports hall and children's day-care center is by the Bureau GKK & Partners. The construction of these social infrastructural measures belongs to the tasks of the development measure.

The Park at Bellevue Palace lies opposite; it was financed from the necessary ecological compensatory resources for the construction of the Federal Office of the President. Bellevue Palace on the other side of the Spree is the residence of the Federal President. The new administration building of the Office of the Federal President lies to the south of the restored palace grounds between old park trees. The architects of the elliptical building covered with black natural stone are Helmut Kleine-Kraneburg and Martin Gruber, Frankfurt am Main, prize winners of a realisation competition. The special characteristics of the 1996 - 1998 building include the glass-roofed inner courtyard which separates the external structure from the internal one, a long, extended rectangle. The State of Berlin created the conditions for a local plan for the new building.

On the northern side of the Spree we now walk along the shore promenade and enter the park on the Moabiter Werder. A total of approx. 5.2 hectares of green spaces have been newly set up on the Werder. The grounds once served as a customs railway station and were used as a storage area until the 1980s. The Federal Garden Show was supposed to be held here in 1995. The landscape architects Kienast, Vogt and Partners, Zurich won the 1990/91 competition for the design of the green spaces. Some time elapsed before the realisation of their ideas, however, because several adjustments had to be made to the new plans for the Parliamentary and Government Quarter, especially for the residential buildings of the Federation, the so-called "snake" and the atrium houses (architect: Georg Bumiller, Berlin). The up to 15-metre-wide shore promenade with its hedge sculptures, rows of trees and benches forms the backbone of the grounds. It leads to a spacious, openly-designed park with a meadow in which several thematic gardens are interspersed. The promenade from the Chancellor Garden to the Moltkebrücke, the continuation of the avenues from the Spreebogen to the Moabiter Werder and the green spaces around the customs packaging office were planned by landscape architects Seebauer, Wefers and Partners, Berlin. The green spaces were completed between 2000 and 2004.

We now ascend to Joachim-Karnatz-Allee from the shore promenade, between the surroundings of the Chancellor Park and the atrium houses. A small birch meadow was set up with an inlaid path and a long bench. Via Ingeborg-Drewitz-Allee we reach the Elizabeth-Abegg-Straße, where the Police and Fire Department for the Parliamentary Quarter, completed in 2004, is located, on the grounds of the former main customs office/packaging court. The architectural bureau Sauerbruch and Hutton, Berlin integrates the old remaining buildings, a fragment of the customs management building, and completes it with a clearly arranged extension. The old building takes in the police section, the entrance of which is reached via a footbridge from the street Alt-Moabit. The three-storey new building contains further office space for the police as well as the fire department with vehicles and equipment hall. The contrast between the relief-like sandstone and brick facade of the old building and the glass front of the new building with its flowing colour design in red and green is especially attractive.

Our stroll now leads via Rahel-Hirsch-Straße to the Gustav-Heinemann-Brücke. It creates a connection for pedestrians and cyclists between the Hauptbahnhof and the Parliamentary and Government Quarter. The bridge was designed by architect Max Dudler, Berlin. The recognisably light construction corresponds to its utilisation as a footbridge in its clear lines, and fits into the overall landscape of the Spreebogen area. The oak-board path is removed from the load-bearing structure of the bridge and is provided with its own railing. The choice of material corresponds to the transition from the open landscape space of Spreebogenpark to the forecourt of the Hauptbahnhof to the south. The bridge was completed for 1.5 million euros in June 2005.

The Hauptbahnhof is located to the north with the surrounding urban district and Humboldthafen. All the streets in the urban district Lehrter Bahnhof, Washingtonplatz and Europaplatz (designed by Büro Kiefer and Martha Schwartz, Berlin/Cambridge), the park bordering to the west and the former exhibition grounds (ULAP, designed by Till Rehwaldt, Dresden) as well as the shore and public areas around Humboldthafen have been financed through the development measure.

The Gustav-Heinemann-Brücke offers a good view onto Hugo-Preuss-Brücke and the landscape area of the Spree with its shore promenades. The Hugo-Preuss-Brücke traverses the entrance to Humboldthafen and, as successor to the Admiral-Scheer-Brücke destroyed during the war, creates a connection to the streets of the northern Spree shore. The simple block-bridge construction is by O. M. Ungers, the winner of the urban architectural competition for the Lehrter Bahnhof city district. The special characteristic of the bridge construction is its arch-shaped ground plan which follows the course of the Spreebogen. The elegant arch of the bridge spans 88 metres at a construction height of 6 metres.

The Spree is hemmed into the entire Parliamentary and Government Quarter by newly created shore promenades. They are part of the overall system of Spree shore paths from Köpenick to Charlottenburg. The development of the course of the river through shore promenades was an essential component of the urban architectural concept for the area being developed from the very beginning. The design of the promenades on the north and south shores follows different models. The northern promenades show an urban influence: with their granite paving, chalkstone covering and supporting walls, they are orientated on the appearance of the historical loading streets. The southern promenades are designed more naturally with gravel footpaths, lawns and groups of trees. The individual sections of the promenades were designed by the following landscape architects:

On the north side

• On the Moabiter Werder: Kienast, Vogt and Partners, Zurich; Seebauer u. Wefers, Berlin
• In front of the Hauptbahnhof, Kapelleufer and Schiffbauerdamm: Gruppe F, Berlin

On the south side

• Bettina-von-Arnim-Ufer (in front of the Federal Chancellery): Müller and Wehberg, Berlin
• Ludwig-Erhardt-Ufer (in front of Spreebogenpark): Weber and Saurer, Solothurn (Switzerland)