• Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

    View on neighbourhood

  • Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

    The neighbourhood at the ZLB: dissolving Berlin blocks

  • Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

    Distribution of functions

  • Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

    Views

  • Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

    Public green

  • Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

    Section north-south

  • Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

    Section east-west

  • Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

    View from former Tempelhof airfield

Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood

(Uberbau, 2012) The new centre at the fringes of the former Tempelhof Airfield forms part of a larger urban regeneration scheme for the district, including a new quarter around the central library complete with a central city square.

The urban design re-interprets the Berlin block and creates a permeable, non-directional public network of small public spaces organized through a mix of building types with a focus on flexible typologies for various uses and users.

The urban plan thus creates intimacy as a complementary quality to the openness of the future airfield park and incorporates temporary, informal and permanent uses in a robust and flexible structure.

The library serves as a landmark that contrasts with the monumental wideness of the airfield. Concentrating the building mass into a compact cube frees up space for a public square for a variety of temporary and other uses such as community gardens. The design of the new central library achieves a highly efficient programme that can fulfill long-term logistical and practical demands.

The rectangular floor plan is based upon a fixed ring of services that provides ultimate accessibility to public and private activity. Within this ring of vertically and horizontally distributed services, scattered modules of activity are facilitated.

see also Berlin Central State Library Phase 2

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Project summary: Berlin Central State Library Neighbourhood [4MB]

Team: Ali Saad, Thomas Stellmach, A Festa, V Miteva for UBERBAU Collaborators: MARS Architekten (Architecture), TH Treibhaus/Lavaland (Landscape), UBERBAU (urbanism) Consultants: TPG Lehmann Date: 2013 Type: Open idea competition, 1 of 8 winners Client: State of Berlin, DE Location: Berlin, DE Subject: Urban Design Surface: 15.5 ha Status: Idea competiton, 1st prize