November 23, 2021

Quartier Am Humboldthain: Urban development competition launched with 24 international architectural firms

The two-stage urban development competition for the Quartier Am Humboldthain (QAH) has begun with the issue of the submission documents to 24 renowned architectural firms. The firms are now faced with the task of finding innovative urban development solutions for the approximately 6.5 hectare site in Berlin-Mitte. The QAH is located in direct vicinity of the AEG architecture, which is significant in terms of building and industrial history. The first stage of the urban development competition will end with the submission of the designs in mid-January 2022, when the eight best designs will be awarded. The second stage will involve detailed elaborations of the initial ideas.

The for the urban development competition was based on a workshop procedure. Expert public and citizens were able to discuss and contribute a wide range of suggestions for the future district in accordance with the principle of "open project development". The aim of the urban development competition is now to answer the question of how an urban district can be developed in terms of urban planning and architecture, thereby recognizing its character as an "EpB area" (development concept for the area dominated by production, defined by the Berlin Senate) and a "Zukunftsort" (place of future innovation) in the context of the city as a whole. As the largest inner-city district development of this kind in Berlin, the QAH with the adjacent historic AEG buildings offers special potential for rethinking a primarily commercial, open mix of uses for science, research, offices and production in a flexible structure. Programmatically, the QAH will expand the Technology Park Humboldthain (TPH), on which the Wedding Campus of the TU Berlin and the Fraunhofer IZM are located. There will also be space offered to small and medium-sized production-oriented businesses. The urban design aims to enable a variety of qualities of a commercial quarter in daily use and to create attractive, public places at the same time.

Historically, the area is characterized by the AEG, which was located here since the end of the 19th century. The historic industrial halls in which companies and institutions of the TPH settled after AEG moved out, stand testament of their time to this day. Today, this is one of eleven “Zukunftsorte” in Berlin. On the QAH site itself is the former Nixdorf production building, which was erected in the 1980s. This building no longer meets current energy and functional standards. In its place, a modern and climate-friendly urban development is to be built, opening up the previously closed space to everyone.

The Quartier Am Humboldthain GmbH is in charge of the project. Development partners are Coros and BÜRO DR. VOGEL GMBH.