Michels Architekturbüro

TELEGRAPH

Berlin-Mitte / Berlin


Project	Revitalisation of a listed former post and telegraph office building complex and construction of a new seven-storey office building with underground garage
Client	Brant Esada Group
Size	Approx. 11,500 m² GFA
Timeline	2016 – 2020
Service	LPH 1 – 5 HOAI and Artistic Direction
Status	Under construction
Visualisation	Tomi Maslovarić
Photos	Luca Abbiento
Open space planning	Atelier le balto Landschaftsarchitekten

Liberated from parking spots and bicycle stands, the courtyards can breathe without constraint. Space is created thereby for a new ecological concept based on open space (atelier le balto).

In Berlin’s Köpenicker Straße, Michels Architektenbüro has renovated two listed buildings formerly used by the Post and Telegraph Construction Office, combining them with a newly constructed seven-storey building and an underground bicycle parking station to create a sustainable office ensemble. A total of 11,650 m² of high-quality and energy-efficient floor space has been created for a sophisticatedly urban and holistically oriented work environment of the future.

Thanks to expansive glazing, the new building’s green street façade can be experienced not only from outside but also from inside. The gabions positioned here are planted with woody pioneer species that grow beyond the steel mesh, extending out onto the balconies, where they serve both as a filter for particulate matter and a climate buffer. The refurbishment of the existing building is equally thoughtful: exposed brick vaulted ceilings, reconditioned box-type windows and restored columns and window breasts along with historical window grilles and banisters have all enabled the monument to retain its history.

The sustainable renovation and utilisation concept with DGNB Gold certification includes an environmentally friendly energy supply that uses photovoltaics and geothermal energy. A large underground parking facility offers 350 bicycle stands and affords traffic-free courtyards with plenty of space for urban greenery.

The street façade integrates a heritage-protected fragment of the former Post and Telegraph Construction Office, which has survived over the years as a ruin. The plain façade of the new building extends protectively over the relic.

The new building brings nature into the façade. The design of landscape architects atelier le balto provides for planted gabions distributed throughout all the floors.

The rooms in the existing building receive the evolved ‘used look’. Combined with new, comfortable floors and freshly painted ceilings, the old building stock gleams, lending every single storey its own individual, authentic style.