Alexanderplatz

Location: Berlin, Germany
Client: Senatserwaltung für Stadtentwicklung
Team: Stig L. Andersson, Lisbeth Westergaard, Svava Riesto, Malin Blomqvist, Elina Moreau Braunstein, Christian Restorff Liliegreen
Design phase: 2003
Area: 3,8 ha.

The weather is the starting point for this proposal to revitalise Alexanderplatz. The square reflects this unique phenomenon that preoccupies millions of people every day, and links millions to each other. A splashing and trickling that we very much want to conserve and strengthen through measures that make the whole square echo to the sound of this essential medium, water.

We propose a renovation of the square through three interventions: contouring, planting and light. The interventions will optimise the experience of a city space to meet the needs of people for social interaction, the dream of experiencing surprises and challenges and the requirement for safety and a feeling of identity.

Contouring, planting and light lay the foundation for articulating the weather on the square, so the 300,000 people who pass by each day will stop, look and linger. The square will appear as a city surface, that leads people around the many attractions, in the same way as the landform in nature leads us around in the landscape. The form and content of the square ensures room for all, young and old, children with their parents on Sunday trips, cyclists and skateboarders, shoppers and business people on the way to and from work, to meetings and other business. Here the sky, clouds, the wind and the rain are present, in close proximity to the commercial city life, the architecture and the dynamic city of Berlin .