Potsdamer Platz - Potsdam Square Berlin Germany ( Renzo Piano, Kollhoff Tower and the DB Bahn Tower )
After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Watersstaged a gigantic charity concert of his former band's rock extravaganza The Wall on 21 July 1990 to commemorate the end of the division betweenEast and West Germany. The concert took place on the then-emptyPotsdamer Platz and featured many guest superstars. After 1990, the square became the focus of attention again, as a large, attractive location which had suddenly become available in the centre of a major European city. It was widely seen as one of the hottest, most exciting building sites in Europe, and subject to much debate amongst architects and planners. The city government chose to divide the area into four parts, each to be sold to a commercial investor, which then planned new construction. During the building-phase the Potsdamer Platz was the largest building site in Europe. The largest of these four parts went to Daimler-Benz, now part of Daimler-Chrysler, who charged Renzo Piano with creating a master plan for the new construction. The individual buildings were then built by many individual architects according to that plan. This includes the remarkable Potsdamer Platz No. 1 by Hans Kollhoff, now home to a number of prestigious law firms (in the photo on the right, the tall brick building in the centre). Potsdamer Platz is also home to the Panoramapunkt viewing platform, located 100 m above ground level, which is accessed by riding Europe's fastest elevator. From the Panoramapunkt one can see such landmarks as the Die Bahn headquarters, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Federal Chancellery, Bellevue Palace, Cathedral, Gendarmes Market, Holocaust Memorial and Commemoration Church. Entrance hall of the S-Bahn (local train) and regional train ("Regionalbahn") station Entrance hall of the S-Bahn (local train) and regional train ("Regionalbahn") station The second largest part went to Sony, which erected its new European headquarters there. This new Sony Centre by Helmut Jahn,
Size: 3612px × 5433px
Location: Berlin
Photo credit: © Peter Horree / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: architectural, architecture, berlin, block, capital, city, cityscape, community, country, demokratische, deutschland, economic, eeg, eu, europe, european, federal, futuristic, german, germany, modern, offices, platz, potsdam, potsdamer, republic, republik, shops, skyscraper, square, tower, town, west
