By Birgit Buerkner
An office tower with a public sky lounge is growing in the Schöneberg colossus.
The Schöneberger Gasometer used to supply Berlin with town gas. The trough squeaked loudly in the steel skeleton.
In the 80 meter high steel skeleton of the gasometer, the shell has grown up to the eighth office floor Photo: Stefanie Herbst
“There’s a toad sitting on the gasometer in our suburb. She breathes in and out so that we can cook,” wrote author Günter Grass († 87). At that time he lived on Niedstrasse in Friedenau, a good two kilometers away.
View from the technical level of the large hall of the conference center from above Photo: Stefanie Herbst
The mighty colossus, inside which the telescopic container rose and fell depending on the gas volume from 1910, was a constantly changing, striking, vital companion for the population.
Now the Gasometer comes alive again. The Euref AG gives the industrial monument a meaning again, so that it becomes a center of attraction for Berliners and the international public.
The visualization shows what the hall should look like: the visitor area can be raised and lowered Photo: EUREF Campus
Manometer, a gasometer grows here!
Under the tarpaulin, workers in protective clothing are removing rust, dirt and hundred-year-old lead paint from the steel skeleton. Section by section, clockwise from top to bottom, they apply corrosion protection. A quarter of the scaffolding with a circumference of 200 meters has already been renovated in accordance with the requirements of a monument and shines silver-grey.
Euref board member Karin Teichmann is satisfied, the construction work is on schedule Photo: Stefanie Herbst
Site manager Lars Schickel (39) manages the construction process and the approximately 100 construction workers Photo: Stefanie Herbst
At a respectful distance of one meter, the office tower is created inside. “Piles were anchored in the Brandenburg sand and a new foundation was poured with concrete,” says EUREF board member Karin Teichmann (50). Cranes lift components from the air into the interior. “All large materials have to be brought in from above.”
There must be a distance of one meter between the steel casing of the listed gasometer and the new building Photo: Stefanie Herbst
The shell has already grown to the eighth floor. The future conference center is located in the base, and there is already a model office space on the third floor. There will be 14 floors, with a publicly accessible sky lounge with a roof terrace offering a fantastic view.
This visualization shows the basement with two gates in a historical steel shell Photo: EUREF Campus
The energy-efficient building is to be tempered with water through kilometers of pipelines in the ceilings. The campus’ own biomethane power plant, which generates energy from waste, will provide cold and heat for this.
The gasometer expansion should be completed by early 2024. The main tenant, Deutsche Bahn, would like to work here with 2000 employees on the vision of the “digital rail”.
In the publicly accessible Skylounge, visitors should be able to enjoy the view over Berlin Photo: EUREF
The Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation has lodged an objection to the expansion from the third floor onwards due to violation of monument protection. The Senate examines.
