Trading Places: BERLIN
Rushing through the airport recently, I still had time to reflect that after a year of being locked down in domestic surroundings, the opportunity to travel internationally once more has been reinvigorating and enlightening.
We don't normally write in detail about the projects we are working on, but as the scale and importance of this particular scheme are significant, we are making an exception.
As London and other UK cities emerge into a post-pandemic world it's easy to forget that other European and indeed global cities are all facing similar challenges and opportunities. To highlight just some of these opportunities P-THREE is producing a trilogy of Perspectives, focusing on individual international cities which we believe offer insights that are relevant for UK centres.
We start this month in Germany's capital, Berlin, where we've for some time been involved in a major scheme in the heart of the city. We don't normally write in detail about the projects we are working on, but as the scale and importance of this particular scheme are significant, we are making an exception.
Potsdamer Platz is likely to be a familiar place name, even to anyone who has never visited Berlin. A major urban crossroads in the early part of the last century, its fortunes changed dramatically when it became part of No Man’s Land after WW2.
Another major transformation came after German reunification when new development breathed back life into the area. One of the major schemes, completed in 1998, was the Renzo Piano-designed Daimler complex. A large part of this, now known simply as Potsdamer Platz, is currently being redeveloped. (Work on a complementary adjacent scheme, The Sony Center, is also currently underway.)
Potsdamer Platz is a fascinating exercise in how to repurpose relatively modern architecture.
An important component of the total 3 million sq ft of commercial property on site, is 400,000 sq ft of retail space. The sign of changing times is highlighted by the reconfiguring of retail/leisure space from an apparently homogenous whole (essentially an old style shopping centre) to a collection of six individual buildings in a high street style setting.
The tenant mix is also changing, too. In a European first for the company, toy manufacturer Mattell, for instance, is opening a family entertainment experience here. When the redeveloped space opens in April 2022 it will be in figuratively and literally a very different city. What takeaways from Berlin do I bring back to the UK?
The city has recently seen an influx of international brands, either signing up for retail/leisure space or making detailed enquiries, which is unquestionably a hallmark of a healthy marketplace (despite their COVID-19 problems). International names entering Berlin for the first time include: Peloton, Lucid, Axel Arigato, away, Scout and Watches of Switzerland group. Any city which is not attracting enquiries from non-domestic brands needs to ask itself why.
The area known as Mitte (or central district), arguably Berlin’s coolest and trendiest quarter, has organically developed a concentration of environmentally friendly brands around Alte Schönhauser Straβe including Stokke, Ecolaf, Allbirds, eco café Zeit für Brot, as well as a mini-flagship H&M, one of only two in the world (the other is in Stockholm) where customers can rent, as well as purchase, garments. Other cities could usefully promote areas that will develop in a similar fashion.
After years as an international and domestic backwater during the Cold War, over several decades Berlin has made a conscious effort to promote itself to a wide visitor base and has used culture to make the city’s streetscapes not just accessible but also enticing. Appealing to a wide range of backgrounds in a thought-through way can bring benefits to many parts of a city, not least its commercial hubs.
A return to international travel levels of 2019 might still be some way off, but, in the meantime, simply investigating what is happening abroad and talking to those involved in current developments can provide inspiration for projects much closer to home.
Watch out for the next international Perspectives, early in 2022, which will focus on Paris, as it prepares for the 2024 Olympics.
Article by Thomas Rose, Co-founder P-THREE
