"The huge Potsdamer Platz project faced Piano with daunting challenges and conundrums. The prime challenge was to reweave together not just the rent fabric of the city, but what had been East and West Berlin as the separated by a broad swathe of dereliction populated only by memories and the terrible ghosts of history. The major conundrums were: whether it is possible (despite the ample positive evidence of historic examples in cities like London and Paris) to instantly create a vibrant, organic piece of the city at such a large scale; and to what extent is it possible, or appropriate, to resurrect the character of urban fabric and city life in an area that lives on vividly in memory, art and legend.
The atrium looking south, a view in which a direct view of the sky is obscured by the rows of the sloping panes. Reflecting the spot lights these create a glowing ceiling at night. The space has roughly the same dimensions as the nave of Notre Dame de Paris and is enlivened by a Jean Tinquely sculpture set in the middle of its floor and archs of blue neon by Francois Morellet."
--Buchanan, Peter. (2000). Renzo Piano Building Workshop. London: Phaidon. p. 179
This building houses offices for Daimler Benz.
Keywords: Germany, Berlin, urban, complexes, commercial structures, office building, sculpture, renewal, interior spaces. Submitted by Keoni Fleming for ARCH 628.
Style/Period
1990s (1990 - 1999)
Source
Buchanan, P. (1993). Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Complete Works. London: Phaidon. p. 179
