Architect |
Kollhoff und Timmermann Architekten |
Date Built |
1998 - 1999 |
Location |
Potsdamer
Platz |
Description |
|
A trio of towers dominate
Potsdamer Platz. In the middle of
the group is the Kollhoff-Tower
named after Berlin
architect Hans Kollhoff who designed
it. The tower is clad in
peat-fired bricks and it rises 25
storeys above the bustling platz
below. A colonnade circles the
base of the tower sheltering retail
units and restaurants. The 24th
and 25th floors offer open-air viewing
terraces complete with an interesting
exhibition about the history of
Potsdamer Platz. There is also a
café for visitors who want to enjoy
the view and good food. When asked about the use of bricks on the tower, Hans Kollhoff said, "Regarding the choice of materials we follow serious city planning standards, and the most important thing is that a building should retain its look through time. When we build and design we do so with the idea that the building will last forever because only this way buildings can constitute the historical memory of a city and they can carry out this function only if they last a long time. On the contrary, if we have buildings that are torn down every twenty years, then this function is lost. When we build we prefer brick, granite, bricks made with compressed sand, and lately we are also inclined to use plaster. Obviously all these materials have extremely different characteristics and look; we used brick in the Potsdamer Platz also because there was a precedent, in other words Renzo Piano's terracotta slabs." (www.floornature.com) |