0194 Am Tacheles Laika - bplus.xyz adaptive reuse architecture

Located in Berlin’s historic city center, the former Friedrichstraßenpassage was one of the city’s largest shopping centers. During the Second World War, the building was bombed and only the central arched entrance and parts of the connections to the adjacent shops were left. After the building had fallen into ruin, it was occupied by an artist collective known as Tacheles until 2004, when it was assigned for reuse. In 2014, a masterplan for the area by Herzog & de Meuron proposed a combination of public and private uses together with commercial and cultural programs. Brandlhuber+ Muck Petzet Architekten designed two buildings, Am Tacheles Laika and 0196 Am Tacheles Joux, each dealing with the specific parameters of the site. Am Tacheles Laika sits on a center slice of the plot. The narrow footprint, the adjacency to the firewall and the planning clause that routes the fire exit from the neighboring building through the plot would pose difficulties for any design process. Furthermore, only a limited amount of the plot was available for use because the ground level had no function as the main delivery entrance and access to undergrounding parking. The space was therefore unattractive to developers and was originally zoned for commercial instead of residential uses. Nevertheless, the concept envisages the void to be filled with small, flexible residential studios in response to the growing demand for single housing in Berlin. Read more

The building envelope follows the setback regulations of the adjoining buildings by creating a triangulated cut-off shape. The interior is based on two structures: a basic concrete framework—a shelf-like construction—and mirrored wall partitions that contain the units’ primary functions. The mirrored wall separates the 29-square-meter unit in two halves. It extends past the facades into the balconies, where it bends back into the next unit. Furthermore, the wall can be opened in all its sections, allowing the user to expand the program: kitchen, sleeping room, bathroom, and storage space. The other half remains unprogrammed and becomes an extension for the aforementioned uses. It can serve as a dining room to host guests, a workspace to receive clients, or simply as open space at night. The interior is characterized by concrete surfaces that blend into the mirrored walls as a more neutral background, while textured surfaces such as wood or stone are combined with a matt aluminium wall. Both the ground floor and the roof terrace are open for public functions. The triangular-shaped ramp above the parking entrance is used for shared programs such as cinema and workspaces, blending into the public square in front of the building. Read less