Berlin | Mercedes Platz

Design-elements Pedestrian-zones-city-squares Bright Diorite

Planning

TOPOTEK 1

products & services

block-steps ● paving-stones ● slabs ● water-elements

Location

Mercedes Platz, 10243 Berlin

TOPOTEK 1 about the project

What was the greatest challenge in planning and later implementation? What were the reasons for the chosen design and what was your intention?

One of the main challenges of this project was to contrast the artificial character of the place with an identity-creating moment. The use of local granite slabs and stones in the classic laying pattern allows this place to be recognized and experienced as an authentic part of Berlin’s public urban space.

At what point did it become clear to you that the project could only succeed with natural stone? What is the fascination of natural stone for you?

TOPOTEK 1 was convinced from the start that the “Mercedes Platz” project could only succeed with a strong Berlin reference. The material mainly used in Berlin’s public urban area is granite (paving, pork bellies, bollards, etc.), we use this typical local material in the classic way of laying in order to give the square a distinctive feature and to identify it as part of the public.

Project description of TOPOTEK 1

With the “Berlin Entertainment District” on the former industrial area of the Ostgüterbahnhof, Berlin’s city center has an additional entertainment mile.

The development of the area with two buildings facing north-south creates an open space with an underground car park, which, as an extension, leads in the middle to the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Our concept divides the existing total area into two main usage areas .

While the Main Plaza in the center of the entertainment district describes a lively, variable event area, the quiet Local Plaza in the south serves as a forecourt and urban lounge area.

The Main Plaza, paved with large-format granite slabs and covered with a field of water fountains that can be driven by heavy loads, offers a welcome range of activities for children and young people. The square area of the Local Plaza, on the other hand, is planted with numerous pre-cultivated plane trees.

The planting and the double benches specially developed for this place calm the square and reduce the scale given by the monumental architecture.

Center point with New York flair

The area of today’s Mercedes Platz was already highly frequented in the past. As the eastern freight station at the time, there was a constant coming and going – this should also be the case in the future. Every year around 1.3 million people come to over 130 events in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, which is home to the Eisbären Berlin and ALBA Berlin.

The aim was not only to attract sports fans, but to turn the area on the banks of the Spree into a new strolling center in Friedrichshain. The office of the online fashion mail order company Zalando and the Mercedes Benz sales office are not far away, as is a shopping center with the East Side Mall. So a lot of life that finds a new cultural home on the redesigned Mercedes Platz with lots of different attractions.

belgrano® quartz monzodiorite – homogeneous and highly resilient

The foundation of this new home is made of natural stone, more precisely: belgrano® quartz monzodiorite. BESCO delivered the necessary material of 12,500 square meters in different tranches and as required – storage on site would not have been possible due to the parallel construction work. 10,000 square meters of the square are now presented as a plaster bandage in a Berlin pass. The fountain field with its illuminated nozzles is also made of the inexpensive yet high-quality natural stone. It was also used for steps and platforms as well as at the entrance and in the area around the square in front of the arena.

LED screens for New York flair

The redesign of Mercedes Platz as an entertainment district cost the Anschutz Entertainment Group 200 million euros. The total area of the property is around 20,500 square meters, of which the public space is 6,500 square meters. A touch of New York and Tokyo give the Mercedes place five LED screens attached to the facades and eight integrated media towers, each with two screens. In addition to the existing entertainment offerings, outdoor events will in future also take place in parts of the spacious area. All of this makes Mercedes-Platz the new pulsating heartbeat of Friedrichshain.

Facelifting für Friedrichshain

reading time - 6 min | 03/23/2020

In seinem Stadtteil Friedrichshain rund um den Mercedes Platz plant Berlin ein neues Vergnügungsviertel. Für die Umgestaltung der Flächen wählten die Bauherren ein Pflaster aus belgrano-Naturstein des Berliner Steincontors BESCO. Auch ein Feld mit Wasserfontänen sowie Stufenanlagen und Podeste bestehen aus dem edlen und vielfältig einsetzbaren Naturstein. Insgesamt verleiht dieser einer Fläche von rund 12.500 Quadratmetern ein zeitgemäßes und stilgerechtes Facelifting.