Potsdamer Platz
Europe’s ‘biggest construction yard’ is getting smaller all the
time. A completely new district has already been finished. The
debis-complex, a masterly design by Renzo Piano, was the first to
be inaugurated on Potsdamer Platz. This "Daimler City" or the "New
Centre of Berlin" covers ten streets, a tunnel, a new underground
station (Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Platz) and the enticing
Marlene-Dietrich-Platz with its fountains and ponds. The area
consists of 19 constructions, houses, office buildings and even a
musical-theatre, as well as the Berlin Casino, the Grand Hyatt
luxury hotel, a cinema complex with 19 theatres, an IMAX Hall and
the "Potsdamer Platz Arkaden" shopping centre with 120 shops and
numerous restaurants, bistros and bars. The daring Sony project is
from the hand of Helmut Jahn from Chicago. Among others, the
Filmhaus has been installed under the hanging tent roof, along
with cinemas and the Filmmuseum Berlin. (Tue-Sun 10am-6pm,
Thursday till 10pm). The Café Josty in the large atrium has
integrated into its architecture the legendary Kaisersaal of the
Esplanade hotel.
In 2004 the third section of the Lenné-triangle was opened: the
Beisheim-Center with five buildings that were inspired by the
American architecture of the 30’s. Especially the interior of the
two five star-hotels the Ritz Carlton Berlin and the Marriott
Hotel is remarkable: the Ritz Carlton goes for honest elegance
with chandeliers, terrace stairs and luxurious rooms (in Schinkel
style), the Marriott shows an avant garde style. The lighting in
the 35 m high atrium is very extraordinary.
Between the large building complexes stands the solitary
Kollhoff-Hochhaus, a 101 m high building of red and brown
bricks. From the viewing platform ‘Panoramapunkt Berlin’, which
you can reach through the ‘fastest elevator in Europe’, you can
see in all directions.
