Project
UP! Berlin

Category 
Best Implemented Restoration / Reconstruction Project

About the project
A new chapter for an icon of Berlin’s history: in 2016 Martin Jasper and his team at JASPER ARCHITECTS won the design competition organized by SIGNA, for an overall transformation of the former «Centrum Warenhaus» mall built in 1979. The competition task was to present a concept to turn this massive squared building block of 80×80 m into office space for the digital era. The construction was originally conceived as an introverted building without openings. That principle had to be reversed: The proposal was to cut out triangular-shaped prisms on each side of the building to flood the interior with natural light and by this, breaking open the massive monolithic geometry. These «voids», with their canyon-like, terraced design, redefine the building’s urban presence completely. The lost floorspace was regained by adding two floors on top, plus a roof pavilion and a rooftop terrace. The new, entirely glazed envelope, reveals the building’s past and points to its future.

Location
Koppenstr. 8, Berlin, Germany

Project implementation year
2021

Project website
https://upberlin.online/

More project images
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tbvs4480r1cbd5s/AABLrIhl0JkMa3ruGBwudBcua?dl=0

Project video
https://youtu.be/rQ04bLOboNk
https://youtu.be/jfBahplCiPg

Additional information
https://www.gannaca.com/blog/?post=6819
https://www.fastcompany.com/90643472/this-e-com-company-helped-kill-shopping-malls-now-its-moving-into-one
https://www.designboom.com/architecture/jasper-architects-up-berlin-germany-department-store-renovation-05-08-2021/
https://www.designverse.com.cn/content/home/article/up-berlin-jasper-architects-en
https://www.archdaily.com/961529/up-berlin-jasper-architects

Applicant and authors of the project
JASPER ARCHITECTS.
Martin Jasper founded JASPER ARCHITECTS in 2008. The studio's main offices are in Berlin, Buenos Aires and Vienna. The team works on projects worldwide and the portfolio spans from interior- and building design projects to urban planning. Jasper's works follow a common methodology: The design concepts are developed by adapting to the local milieu, history and context. In this way JASPER ARCHITECTS creates architecture with a strong identity that relates to the local within a global context.

Other participants
Developer: SIGNA
Building and General Planning: JASPER ARCHITECTS and Gewers Pudewill
Sustainability Consultancy: Ibak
Structural and Façade Engineering: Bollinger und Grohmann
Interior Design Concept: Studio Aisslinger
MEP Engineering: Meinhardt Fulst Engineers
Fire Protection Engineering: hhpberlin
Landscape Design: YEWO Landscapes
Lighting Consultancy: Licht Kunst Licht AG
Building Physics: Müller BBM