DomAquarée

The DomAquarée offers unusualperspectives—both inside and out
When it comes to investor projects on prominent downtown sites, conflicts between the need for urban quality and achieving attractive financial returns is a frequent problem. Or perhaps not? At least not always—as has been proven by Sergei Tchoban in Berlin with the DomAquarée complex between Alexanderplatz and Berlin’s “Museum Island”. The architects “nps tchoban voss” designed and implemented a vibrant complex in one of the most beautiful city locations to be found in Germany’s capital, accommodating a wide mix of usages within an area of 72,000 square metres (775,000 sq. ft.). So can this mean that market forces are giving rise to a new spirit of high-quality development at the cost of the more anonymous “bog-standard” buildings that usually attract financial investment?
The complex erected on the bank of the River Spree for 500 million euros does not lack identity by any means. The Dom Aquarée houses the new Radisson SAS hotel with conference centre, a 70-unit apartment block and two office buildings. And integrated within the same block are retail, gastronomic and entertainment amenities, all of which are nicely linked to and integrated within the municipal environment. It is a concept that is sympathetic in both its style and city compatibility. The building
that previously occupied the site, the Palasthotel erected when this part of Berlin still belonged to the GDR, blocked off an old thoroughfare while itself being as inaccessible as a castle on a hill. Now, however, the DomAquarée has reorganised the organic structure of the block and its immediate environs. And the perimeter development with its blockhouse style so typical of Berlin has also been revived. The natural stone façades of the four individual buildings have been carefully coordinated, albeit with subtle variations. Along Karl- Liebknecht-Strasse, the six-floor frontages culminating in two set-back storeys are grouped together with axial symmetry around the access to Heiliggeistgasse.
Everywhere, Tchoban’s architecture intertwines interior with exterior. The refurbished streets run criss-cross into the site where large dome-roofed atriums and glass-walled elevators open the buildings up to the sky. The tree-lined Heiliggeistgasse with its intricate, transparent barrel roof offers all the prerequisites
for developing into an urban congregational area in the same way as its historic precursors in Brussels and Milan. A towering seawater aquarium provides the atrium in
front of the Radisson SAS with a particularly unique appearance. The scintillating blue cylindrical object of acrylic glass with its height of 16 metres (52 ft) and diameter of 11.5 metres (37 ft) is unmatched anywhere in the world. Thousands of exotic fish populate the one-million-litre water column. The lift takes its passengers right through the middle into the wide area, glazed attic floors to reveal a panoramic view across Berlin.
The interior of the Radisson SAS has also been designed to impress its guests in the quality stakes. The interiors of the 427 rooms and suites have been kept in the classic modern style. Many rooms offer a view of the cathedral, River Spree, the Rote Rathaus city hall and Alexanderplatz. And easy access through more than 600 doors is provided by invisibly integrated ITS 96 door closers from DORMA. On double doors, the coordinating control of the ITS 96 GSR ensures that active and inactive leaves always close in the right sequence, while BTS 84 floor springs gracefully close the fully glazed portals leading to the conference area. And there, DORMA Hüppe ensures that even the walls can be moved to the guests’ convenience: Variflex Top UA partitioning systems with a total length of 31 metres ensure that the five ultra-modern conference rooms are always in the right dimensions. The half-automatically operable elements give each room its distinctive colour and code while also ensuring optimum sound insulation.

Prominent Features

The vibrant architecture is significantly formed through both the design ans technology of DORMA products.