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realizzazioni R E R U T T E T I H C A 70 MARITIM KONGRESSHOTEL BERLIN ELEGANZA NECESSARIA - JAN KLEIHUES NECESSARY ELEGANCE - JAN KLEIHUES Maritim Kongresshotel Berlin di Fabrizia Morandi n foto/photos: Stefan Müller, Berlin - Archiv Kleihues + Kleihues, Berlin und Dülmen-Rorup A Berlino, nella Stauffenberg Straße, quartiere Tiergarten, nelle immediate vicinanze del Kulturforum e del Potsdamer Platz è stato costruito l’ultimo hotel e centro congressi del gruppo Maritim. Su di una superficie di circa 12.000 metri quadrati, l’albergo dispone di 505 camere e 1.000 letti, una zona destinata a wellness con piscina, un ristorante, un bar, un bistrò con terrazza, un garage su due piani con 478 posti macchina e 5.356 metri quadrati ripartiti in due sale per conferenze da 2.600 e 1.250 posti.-Trasformabili - ossia che si possono suddividere secondo le esigenze individuali. Il concorso è stato vinto nel 2000 da Jan Kleihues. L’edi ficio ad un primo sguardo sembra lì da sempre. Chi si interessa di storia e di politica e la applica all’architettura e all’urbanistica sa che Berlino è “Vielfältig”; multiforme, sfaccettata, e conosce quale densità di eventi si concentrano sull’area intorno a Potsdamer Platz, prima vetrina mediale della trasformazione di una città in una metropoli e dell’affermarsi del mito della “modernità”di Berlino. Intorno agli anni ’30, nello storico tessuto si insediano sperimentazioni architettoniche moderne di Luckard e di Mendelsohn (Columbus Haus 1931-‘32), che convivono con la stazione ferroviaria Potsdamer Bahnhof, con i grandi magazzini Wertheim e con altre curiosità costruite come T he Maritim group’s newest hotel and conference center was built in Berlin, in the Stauffenberg Straße in the Tiergarten district close to the Kulturforum and Potsdamer Platz. Covering about 12,000 square meters, the hotel has 505 rooms and 1000 beds, a wellness area with a swimming pool, a restaurant, a bar, a bistro with a terrace, a two-storey garage with 478 parking places and 5,356 square meters in two conference halls seating 2,600 and 1,250. The halls can be divided to suit varying needs. Jan Kleihues won the competition in 2000. At first glance, it seems as if the building has always been there. Those concerned about history and politics as they apply to architecture and urban planning know that Berlin is “Vielfältig”, multi-form, multi-faceted, and understand the great density of events concentrated in the area around Potsdamer Platz, a prime media showcase of the city’s transformation into a metropolis, representing the idea of Berlin’s “modernity”. In and around the 1930s, this historic area became the site of modern architectural experiments by Luckard and Mendelsohn (Columbus Haus 1931-32), standing alongside the railway station Potsdamer Bahnhof, the Wertheim large department stores and inventions like “Haus “Haus Vaterland”, una “Casapatria” turistica di tutti i divertimenti internazionali e delle gastronomie del pianeta illustrate con diorami e tableaux vivants. Bombardata, distrutta in gran parte, ed infine rimasta ai margini della città divisa dal muro, Vaterland” (“Homeland House”, a tourist site with all the world’s diversions and culinary delights illustrated with dioramas and tableaux vivants. This part of the city was bombed, mostly destroyed and pushed to the edge of the city divided by the wall, making it a frontier place. West Berlin made use of it and built the Kulturforum according to Scharoun’s master plan, a complex designed and built in the sixties as a bastion of Western culture and power before the cosmic void of the no-man’s land between the two walls. This project included the Philharmonic (1960), the State Library by Scharoun (1966-78), the Kunstgewerbemuseum by Gutbrod (designed in 1966 and built later) and the Nationalgalerie by Mies van der Rohe (1965-68). More recently, since the reunification, intensive rebuilding concentrated around this square, extending elsewhere as well. For example, the street of embassies was extended along Tiergarten Straße, south of which is the area where Hotel Maritim now stands. This area, part of the Shell-Haus district, is a block between Stauffenberg Straße, Sigismund Straße, the Hitzigallee and Reichpietsch Ufer. The important building which gave the area its name stands on the edges of this “waterfront” street that follows the course of the Landwerkanal. The Shell-haus was designed by architect Emil Fahrenkamp in 1930. It follows the undulating flow of the water
