The Garden - Residential District

Berlin, Germany

Photo © Jens Willebrand

Drawing © Eike Becker

Photo © Jens Willebrand

Apartment Buildings

Architects: Eike Becker Architekten

Location: Chausseestrasse 57-60, Berlin, Germany
Year: 2016
Client: MejasFour d.o.o.
Auftragsart: Direktauftrag
Projektteam: Eike Becker_Architekten
Fachplaner: Goslinowski & Walzer GbR Ingenieurbüro (Fassade), HHP Hosser, Hass + Partner Ingenieurgesellschaft für Bauwesen und Brandschutz GmbH (Brandschutz), Professor Pfeifer und Partner Ingenieurbüro für Tragwerksplanung (Tragwerk), Schlotfeldt Licht GmbH (Licht)
Bruttogeschossfläche oberirdisch: 26800 qm
Bruttogeschossfläche unterirdisch: 3350 qm
Bruttorauminhalt oberirdisch: 93800 kbm
Baukosten: 38 Mio. Euro

A major building complex is being developedb on Chausseestrasse, the oldest route between the center of Berlin and the district of Wedding, right where the former border area between West and East Berlin left a desolate, empty lot in the nineties. The concept for the site is based on forerunners from the nineteenth century. For example, Riehmer’s Hofgarten in the district of Kreuzberg and the Amelia Park in the district of Pankow are ensembles of magnificent residential buildings that cover a quarter or even half of an entire neighborhood, each with narrow pathways and green spaces that lead from one street to another.

The attractiveness of The Garden is rooted in a similar design. Rising ten stories at their full height, the front buildings along Chausseestrasse form a gate. A walkway leads from the opening between the two flat-topped towers, pointing toward the neo-Gothic chapel of the cemetery of the Cathedral Parish and passing three small, green inner courtyards.

Adjacent to the hotel building on the northwest are four townhouses and adjacent to the office building on the southeast are nine. Each townhouse has seven stories with the top two floors designed in penthouse style. The fact that all the townhouses have small gardens to the rear— hence the name The Garden—is a rarity for such a centrally located property.