“Politics and administration have succeeded in advancing a high-quality urban quarter in the heart of the city through one of the fastest development plan procedures of the past 20 years. This is a major achievement for everyone involved and an important signal for Berlin as a business location,” says Lutz Keßels, Managing Director of QUARTIER AM HUMBOLDTHAIN GMBH. “Quartier Am Humboldthain will become a vibrant neighbourhood for education, research, production and culture – a future hub for innovation with short distances in the centre of the city.”

Dismantling of the existing building will begin at the end of 2025, with completion of the quarter planned by 2030.

Der Beitrag DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR QUARTIER AM HUMBOLDTHAIN ENTERS INTO FORCE erschien zuerst auf Quartier Am Humboldthain.

The basis for the rapid progress in the development plan process is the early involvement and ongoing close and constructive coordination with politicians, the administration and the neighbourhood. ‘As the planning authority, the Berlin-Mitte district has provided constructive support for the project. It is an important signal that Berlin is capable of efficiently managing large-scale projects and getting them off the ground. ’, says Lutz Keßels, Managing Director of Quartier Am Humboldthain GmbH. ‘For us, it shows that ambitious projects with an impact beyond Berlin can be realised through trusting cooperation with the district and the state of Berlin,’ adds Dr Markus Vogel, Managing Director of development partner BÜRO DR. VOGEL GMBH.

A look at the statistics for Berlin illustrates the dynamics of the process: according to initial analyses of 679 development plans, there has been no process of comparable size and importance in the past 15 years that has gone from preparation to public consultation in just 22 months.

The current progress in the development plan process shows that projects with city-wide significance can be planned and realised through integrated cooperation between the public and private sectors. The next steps up to the finalisation of the development plan will continue to be closely coordinated with the Berlin administration.

The Quartier Am Humboldthain is embedded in the Humboldthain Technology Park, the most central of Berlin’s eleven future locations, and will be developed architecturally and urbanistically in the context of the city as a whole. On around 235,000 m², the QAH will be home to a primarily commercial, open mix of uses for science, laboratories, offices and production in a flexible structure. Sustainability plays a central role in the development of the future quarter. This is reflected in the DGNB Platinum pre-certification at neighbourhood level.

Der Beitrag Public participation for the Quartier Am Humboldthain completed. erschien zuerst auf Quartier Am Humboldthain.

We express our gratitude for this accolade, which recognizes our commitment to social, environmental, and economic sustainability principles.

Special thanks go to our partners, Cobe and Buro Happold, for their shared vision and dedication.

Der Beitrag QAH receives platinum pre-certification from the German Sustainable Building Council. erschien zuerst auf Quartier Am Humboldthain.

“We are very happy that the development planning process for our project will now proceed. This achievement has essentially been made possible by everyone’s cooperation. I would particularly like to emphasize the very good collaboration with the politicians and the administration and thank the Berlin-Mitte district for its constructive attitude,” explains Lutz Keßels, Managing Director of Quartier Am Humboldthain GmbH.

Der Beitrag Next milestone for Quartier Am Humboldthain erschien zuerst auf Quartier Am Humboldthain.

Second place went to a joint design from “Ortner & Ortner Baukunst” and “capattistaubach urbane landschaften”, with third place going to a design by “Robertneun TM GmbH” and “Atelier Loidl Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH”.

During the first stage of the competition from mid-March, 20 renowned architectural firms submitted designs to reimagine the 6.5 hectare site on Humboldthain, tasked with finding innovative urban planning solutions for the former AEG production site. Designs from eight winning offices were then developed further during the second round of the competition.”

From green neighbourhood park to hub

The winning design is centered around a strong landscape planning concept to create a development with rows of predominantly five- to eight-storey buildings culminating in height around a green, central park within the Quartier. This will serve as both a recreational space and the area’s “green lung”. Gustav-Meyer-Allee will be lined with predominantly lower buildings but gaining in height to mark the entrance to the Quartier, and the development’s height profile is derived from existing surrounding buildings. A central forecourt with a single tall, slender building will link the green space in the Quartier with nearby Humboldthain.

The development envisages solar-panelled roofs, as well as many green roofs including both communal and sports areas. A central reservoir with year-round water and open run-off areas are part of a sophisticated rainwater concept.

Previously closed, this neighbourhood is set to become a modern, climate-friendly urban development open to everyone, and as such will become the symbol of a city of short distances. The winning design aims to extend the existing network of paths by two east-west axes, connecting with existing buildings in the south and east beyond the competition area. The planned entrance towards Brunnenstraße will provide the neighbourhood with an extensive east-west connection and in the future the public with barrier-free access.

A variety of uses, new opportunities for research and production

The QAH is to become one of Berlin’s “Zukunftsorte”, or sites of future innovation, developed in an urban planning and architectural context for the city as a whole. As the largest inner-city development of its kind in Berlin, the QAH, surrounded by historic AEG buildings, offers great potential to rethink a commercial district’s wide variety of uses within a flexible structure.

The QAH will house the TU Berlin’s Wedding Campus as well as the Fraunhofer IZM, allowing an expansion of the Technology Park Humboldthain (TPH). Space will also be offered to small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses following its proposed objective to create with its urban design both a multipurpose and lively commercial quarter and, at the same time, attractive public spaces.

The “Cobe” design shows how the Quartier could be divided into four different clusters each with its own purpose – for example, an “urban city cluster” along Gustav-Meyer-Allee, a park within the Quartier as a “green oasis” linked to an “education cluster” in the east, as well as a central “creative cluster” and a “technology cluster” to the west opposite the Fraunhofer Institute. How exactly these different clusters will be arranged in the end will be developed as work on the master plan develops.

The design includes just under 235,000 m2 gross floor area in total, of which approximately 31,000 m2 will be on ground level. With a site coverage factor of 0.49, the design will cover just less than half the site. The winning design will now form the basis for development plans aimed to be finalised by 2025/26, with the Quartier in its essential urban outline expected to be completed by 2030.

Der Beitrag Pricewinning designs for the Quartier am Humboldthain erschien zuerst auf Quartier Am Humboldthain.

Start of the first stage: 22.11.2021
Submission of the designs for the first stage: 15.02.2022

The following international architectural offices are taking part:

ACME (London / Berlin) • agps architecture (Zurich/L.A.) • ASTOC (Cologne) • Caspar Schmitz Morkramer (Cologne) • Christoph Kohl Stadtplaner Architekten (Berlin) • Cityförster (Hannover) • COBE (Kopenhagen) • DMSW Architekten (Berlin) • Hadi Teherani Architects (Hamburg) • HENN (Berlin) • JSWD Architekten (Köln) • KCAP, Rotterdam • KSP ENGEL (Berlin) • LOVE Architecture (Graz) • Michels Architekturbüro (Berlin) • O+O Baukunst (Berlin) • OSA Ochs Schmidhuber Architekten (Munich) • REICHER HAASE ASSOZIIERTE (Berlin) • Robert Neun Architekten (Berlin) • Sauerbruch + Hutton (Berlin), schneider + schumacher (FFM) • Thomas Hillig Architekten (Berlin)

Der Beitrag TWO-STAGE URBAN PLANNING COMPETITION LAUNCHED erschien zuerst auf Quartier Am Humboldthain.

The entire process was supported by an illustrator (graphic recorder). The resulting illustrations, which are reproduced in the report, visualise the discussions in the workshop talks, but not always their results.

The result of the workshop process consists of a result plan and a textual-conceptual appendix. In the latter, the essential contents concerning identity, unique selling points, uses and distribution of uses, urban development as well as traffic, development and public space were defined, which could be achieved as a result of the process among all participants.

Both documents can be downloaded here. For the moment they are only available in German.

The report on the results forms the basis for the urban planning ideas competition that will now follow with invited architectural firms.

We would like to thank all participants and especially the committed citizens for their constructive participation in the workshops. We found the process extremely inspiring, constructive and purposeful. We think we have taken a big step towards anchoring our project as an added value for the neighbourhood and its surroundings and look forward to the next steps together with them.

Thank you!

Der Beitrag Here they are: The results of the workshop process erschien zuerst auf Quartier Am Humboldthain.

The Quartier Am Humboldthain is being built in one of Berlin’s eleven “Zukunftsorte”, or sites of future innovation, in the Gesundbrunnen district. For decades, the area was associated with AEG and the electrical industry and is characterised by its industrial buildings and workers’ quarters. Nowadays, the district is being transformed into a place of science, research and contemporary services. The Quartier am Humboldthain has already been designated part of the Humboldthain Technology Park (TPH). Together with institutes from the Technische Universität (TU), Berlin, the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM and various innovative companies from technology, IT and research sectors , as well as media and creative industries, science and commerce are already working closely together on this site. Construction here will allow the location and district to benefit from new and opportunities.

When it comes to what the quarter should be used for, its location offers a whole variety of possibilities . Close-by are the recreation area Volkspark Humboldthain and the historic buildings of the former AEG factory, which surround the quarter. The workshops that began yesterday will form the basis of the “Open Development” process and will determine how the site can be used in the future. A variety of commercial uses are possible here. Development of the quarter will allow the site to become an integral part of the existing public urban space, with walkways through the quarter and public access, particularly on the ground floor, being just two ways in which this can be achieved. Our goal is to create spaces for as many different users as possible.

Developed by Büro Dr. Vogel GmbH, the aim of the “Open Development” process is to achieve a broad consensus between residents and key stakeholders from politics, commerce and science by developing a workable concept of use for this special location. To achieve this, several discussion rounds with residents as well as representatives from politics, commerce and science will take place. Wishes and suggestions for the development of the quarter can be expressed during facilitated discussions. These will establish a solid basis for the development of the quarter.

About Coros:

Coros is a long-term oriented real estate company that aims to identify unused potential in urban areas and to create sustainable added value for a modern urban society with sustainable utilization concepts.
More about Coros at coros.de.

Press contact:

Camilla von Meerheimb
Head of Marketing and Communications
Tel. +49 1516 4831813
Mail presse@quartier-humboldthain.berlin

Der Beitrag Open development process kicks off for the Quartier am Humboldthain erschien zuerst auf Quartier Am Humboldthain.