The Center Potsdamer Platz | |
---|---|
General information | |
Town or city | Berlin |
Country | Germany |
Groundbreaking | 1995 |
Construction started | 1995 |
Completed | 1998 |
Opened | 14 June 2000 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Helmut Jahn Peter Walker (landscape architect) |
Architecture firm | PWP Landscape Architecture |
Engineer | Jaros, Baum & Bolles (MEP) |
Structural engineer | Ove Arup & Partners |
Other designers | Waagner-Biro |
Website | |
www |
The Center Potsdamer Platz, known as Sony Center until March 2023, is a complex of eight buildings located at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany, designed by Helmut Jahn. It opened in 2000 and houses Sony's German headquarters. The cinemas in the center were closed at the end of 2019.
In the early 20th century, the site was originally home to Berlin's bustling city center. During World War II, it was the location of the infamous Nazi People's Court. Most of the buildings in its vicinity were destroyed or damaged during World War II. From 1961 onwards, most of the area became part of the "No Man's Land" of the Berlin Wall, resulting in the destruction of the remaining buildings. After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, the square became the focus of attention again, as a large (some 60 ha (150 acres)), attractive location in the heart of a major European capital city had suddenly become available.
As part of a redevelopment effort for the area, the space was to be developed. In 1992, Sony acquired the 30,000-square-meter (320,000 sq ft) site from the Berlin city government for 97.2 million German marks, about US$61.6 million. Shortly after, the European Commission briefly investigated whether Sony paid less than the market price. [2] Over the following years, a total of eight buildings [3] were designed by Helmut Jahn [4] and Peter Walker as landscape architect, and construction was completed in 2000 at a total cost of 750 million euros.
The iconic 4,000 m2 (43,000 sq ft) vaulted roof covering the central open area between the main buildings was engineered and built by Waagner-Biro using steel, glass and translucent fabric. [5]
In February 2008 Sony sold the Sony Center for less than 600 million euros to a group of German and US investment funds, including investment bank Morgan Stanley, Corpus Sireo and an affiliate of The John Buck Company. [6] The group sold the Sony Center to the National Pension Service of South Korea for 570 million euros in 2010. [7] [8]
In 2017, Oxford Properties and Madison International Realty acquired the complex for close to 1.1 billion euros. [9]
From 1999 until 2019, CineStar operated a cinema, Cinestar Sony Center, and an IMAX theater in the center. [10] Both were used for screenings in the Berlin International Film Festival until their closure. [11]
Architects Murphy/Jahn sought to create a complex where the outside was the "real" city, while inside was a "virtual" city, reinforcing this dichotomy through a series of passages and gates. The design's use of light, both natural and artificial, creates an environment that is "luminous, not illuminated." [12]
When the building opened, the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Jahn's design for the Sony Center bears a superficial resemblance to the dizzying atrium of his James R. Thompson Center in Chicago's Loop because its buildings wrap around a big public space. But unlike the Thompson Center, the Sony Center's public space, called the Forum, has an umbrella-like roof of steel, glass and fabric partly open to the elements, with a cone-shaped, 30-foot-wide opening in its center." [13]
Hochtief was the general contractor; Jaros, Baum & Bolles provided MEP engineering; and the structural engineering consultants were BGS Ingenieursozietät and Ove Arup & Partners. [12]
The Sony Center contains a mix of shops, restaurants, a conference center, hotel rooms, around 67 residential units, [14] offices, the Museum of Film and Television, and a Legoland Discovery Center. [15]
Free Wi-Fi is available. During major sports events like the 2006 FIFA World Cup, it was also home to a large television screen on which the games were shown to viewers sitting in the large open area in the middle.[ citation needed ]
The Sony Center is located near Berlin Potsdamer Platz railway station, which can be accessed on foot. A large, covered shopping center, the Mall of Berlin, is nearby, as are many hotels, Deutsche Bahn central offices, along with an office building that is home to the fastest elevator in Europe.[ citation needed ]
Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the north-east to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the south-west.
Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, as measured by population within city limits. The city is also one of the states of Germany, and is the third smallest state in the country in terms of area. Berlin is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and Brandenburg's capital Potsdam is nearby. The urban area of Berlin has a population of over 4.5 million and is therefore the most populous urban area in Germany. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region, and the sixth-biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union.
Potsdamer Platz is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about 1 km (1,100 yd) south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, and close to the southeast corner of the Tiergarten park. It is named after the city of Potsdam, some 25 km (16 mi) to the south west, and marks the point where the old road from Potsdam passed through the city wall of Berlin at the Potsdam Gate. Initially, the open area near the city gate was used for military drills and parades. In the 19th into the 20th century, it developed from an intersection of suburban thoroughfares into the most bustling traffic intersection in Europe. The area was totally destroyed during World War II and then left desolate during the Cold War era when the Berlin Wall bisected its location. Since German reunification, Potsdamer Platz has been the site of major redevelopment projects.
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The Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the western part of the locality of Prenzlauer Berg in the borough of Pankow in Berlin. The sports complex covers an area of approximately 22 hectares and comprises several facilities. The main building is the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Stadion. The stadium is the third-largest stadium in Berlin, after the Olympiastadion and the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, with a capacity of approximately 20,000 seats, of which 15,000 are covered. Currently, the main tenants of the stadium are VSG Altglienicke and Berlin Thunder. Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark was the venue for the 2018 World Para Athletics European Championships.
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The Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europe's "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival held in Italy and the Cannes Film Festival held in France. Furthermore, it is one of the "Big Five", the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The festival regularly draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.
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Berlin's history has left the city with an eclectic assortment of architecture. The city's appearance in the 21st century has been shaped by the key role the city played in Germany's 20th-century history. Each of the governments based in Berlin—the Kingdom of Prussia, the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, East Germany and the reunified Federal Republic of Germany—initiated ambitious construction programs, with each adding its distinct flavour to the city's architecture.
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