Berlin, Germany
Designed by European Prize for Architecture laureate Sergei Tchoban and his team at tchoban voss Architekten, Kurfuerstendamm 68 is a building that was used as a hotel at the end of the 1920s, known as “Hotel am Kurfuerstendamm”, and has now been extended and converted into a modern office and commercial building with residential use in the attic.
This architectural design has been awarded a 2021 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The Alhambra cinema palace in Berlin-Charlottenburg was built in 1921 according to the plans of the architect Max Bischoff and became known in 1922 as the premier location for sound movies.
In the course of its conversion, the historic stucco facade on the street side up to the third floor was rebuilt as a pilaster/semi-column facade in the design of the former Alhambra cinema.
The finely profiled wooden mullioned windows continue the historical appearance without a break.
The building thus blends seamlessly into the magnificent Wilhelminian and Art Nouveau architecture of Berlin’s shopping mile.
In contrast, the fourth to sixth floors have a modern double-skin facade with a mullion and transom construction on the outside and a generous perforated facade on the inside.
The courtyard facade was also redesigned, taking up the structure of the building with a four-story base and offset rising stories.
Balconies with horizontal balustrades are available for the tenants.
Further measures included the demolition of the existing kitchen wing, including the basement, the transformer station in the courtyard, the existing roof, the eastern staircase, and the existing non-load-bearing walls of the interior design.
The western stairwell, the ground floor, and the existing upper floors were redefined.
The newly created sections include a new transverse building in the courtyard with four full floors and two staggered floors, as well as a border development on the ground floor.
The existing building consists of a steel skeleton structure with load-bearing outer walls of masonry.
The extension building was constructed as a reinforced concrete skeleton structure with bracing wall panels.
The ground floor gallery is intended for retail or gastronomy, the first to fifth floors for office use.
The room heights in the office section are 2.75 to 3.50 meters, in other common rooms heights of at least 2.50 meters are maintained.
The 6th floor of the front building was converted into an apartment. With the roof terrace on the transverse building, this apartment has a generous outdoor area.
Access to the single-story underground car park of 30 parking spaces, two of which are barrier-free, is provided via the existing sidewalk crossing from Kurfuerstendamm.
The ramp is located in the courtyard. By eliminating the above-ground parking spaces on the property, an unsealed green area has been created.
Project: Kurfuerstendamm 68, Berlin
Architects: Tchoban Voss Architekten GmbH
Design Team: Sergei Tchoban, Philipp Bauer, Karsten Waldschmidt, Simon Bange, Anja Koch, and Andreij Barchin (SPEECH)
Client: Fonds Concept GmbH c/o Wertconcept Investment Group GmbH
General Contractor: Hirsch + Lorenz Ingenieurbau GmbH
Structural Engineers: Ing. Büro Jocker GmbH
Photographers: Klemens Renner and Carsten Schneider
