Greenroofs.com Project of the Week: 6/19/17

Potsdamer Platz*
Berlin, Germany
323,000 sq. ft. Greenroofs & additional Green Infrastructure

Project of the Week Mini Description & Details

Located at the geographical center of Berlin, the award winning Potsdamer Platz is a historic square reborn since fall of the Berlin Wall. As the meeting point of the city’s five most bustling streets, the revitalized 1.3 hectare entertainment hub is a unique blend of art, entertainment, shopping, corporate centers, and one of Europe’s premiere urban quarters known for exceptional and ground-breaking architecture. Potsdamer Platz was razed during World War II and redeveloped after the reunification of East and West Berlin in 1990. The site of the old Berlin Wall, Potsdamer Platz entailed rebuilding the heart of post-Cold War Berlin into the new capital’s city center. It was designed by an international team of architects headed by Renzo Piano.

Potsdamer Platz Master Plan by Renzo Piano. Photo: Fondazione Renzo Piano.

Redeveloped by Daimler, the water sensitive urban design, building-integrated water recycling systems and industrial regeneration have come to represent an iconic symbol of designing “Green and Blue” urban waterscapes using rainwater where it falls. Designed by Studio Dreiseitl, this includes Potsdamer Platz’s 30,000 m2 or about 323,000 square feet of greenroofs. The stormwater management, harvesting and recycling system is fed by the city’s 21 inches of annual rainwater. The greenroofs retain and then release water to the large on-site buffer pond which has five underground storage tanks. Cisterns provide water for the 3-acre artificial Piano Lake, and approximately 4 million gallons of water are circulated though filtration beds once every three days.

© Atelier Dreiseitl.

The excess overflow water is used as grey water for toilet flushing, irrigation, and fire systems. The cleansed water flows into a beautiful large piazza for visitors to enjoy. In all, the Potsdamer Platz manages an estimated 23,000 m³ per year of potable water and its cooling capacity reduces summer temperatures by approximately 2°C. Always bustling with people, restaurants and activity, the popular Potsdamer Platz is a favorite destination of both locals and tourists alike with up to 100,000 visiting per day.

* Publisher’s Notes:

The Potsdamer Platz is a featured project at the ongoing 2017 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit, highlighted in the “Top 10 Green Infrastructure Eco-Agents in a Climate-Changing World” video by Linda Velazquez.

We also express sympathy for the passing on June 16, 2017 of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl who reunited Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 (read more from the New York Times).

Year: 1998
Owner: Brookfield Property Partners
Location: Berlin, Germany
Building Type: Multi-Use
Type: Extensive & Intensive plus additional green infrastructure of stormwater management, harvesting, and recycling systems
System: Custom
Size: 323000 sq.ft. of greenroofs
Slope: 1.5%
Access: Inaccessible, Private

© Potsdamer Platz Overview Quarter.

Designers/Manufacturers of Record:

Master Planner Architect: Renzo Piano
Architects: Christoph Kohlbecker, Arata Isozaki, Ulrike Lauber and Wolfram Wöhr, Richard Rogers, Rafael Moneo
Landscape Architecture, Water Design: Atelier Dreiseitl
Project Landscape Architect: Daniel Roehr
Greenroof Landscape Design: Krueger und Moehrle

More Info

View the Potsdamer Platz PROJECT PROFILE to see ALL of the Photos and Additional Information about this particular project in The International Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database.

Project of the Week Video Feature

Watch the Potsdamer Platz Project of the Week Video below or see it on our GreenroofsTV channel on YouTube:

Greenroofs.com Project of the Week 6/19/17 video photos courtesy of © Potsdamer Platz Overview Quarter and Building and “Eichhornstrasse 3” © Vincent Mosch; © Atelier Dreiseitl/Ramboll; Potsdamer Platz Facebook; Aerial view of Potsdamer Platz in 2016. by Avda / www.avda-foto.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons; Immobilien Handelshaus/Sotheby’s International Realty; Melissa Keely; City of Berlin by Philipp Eder; Ausblick von der Aussichtsplattform auf dem Kollhoff-Tower by Nordenfan, CC-BY-SA 4.0 via Wikipedia Commons; Potsdamer Platz in Berlin by Mihael Grmek, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons; around 1900, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons; Line on the ground marking where the Wall used to stand, on the edge of Potzdamer Platz (2015) by Aridd, CC-BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons; PotsdamerPlatz_Vogelperspektive by Michael J. Zirbes, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons; and Potsdamer_Platz_with_Site_of_Potsdamer_Bahnhof_2005 by Tonythepixel, PublicDomain via Wikimedia Commons.

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By Linda S. Velazquez, ASLA, LEED AP, GRP
Greenroofs.com Publisher & Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit Host

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