Kinzo

At Kinzo, design isn’t about certainty; it’s about perspective.

Modernization of the former Sony Center
Placemaking and Revitalization of an Iconic Building in the Heart of Berlin

How do you transform a 1990s Berlin landmark using contemporary urban planning, and create a place for community and participation?
Commissioned by the Canadian investment company Oxford Properties Group, the Berlin-based architectural firm Kinzo handed in the general planning and a holistic placemaking concept for the ¬revitalization of Das Center am Potsdamer Platz, the former Sony Center situated at Potsdamer Platz Berlin, right next to Kulturforum and the Berlin Modern by Herzog&De Meuron. The first milestones designed by Kinzo have now been completed.

Overview
New ideas for Das Center am Potsdamer Platz

The overarching goal is to revitalize the entire complex of approximately 113,000 square meters from the inside out and create added value for the city through intelligent, user-centered neighborhood development. To achieve this, Kinzo is applying a human scale.
The key steps in this process involve redesigning the property's program and use: Kinzo conducted a mobility study for the planned bike parking area and studies for individual areas with regard to the leasing and use of individual spaces.
Based on the results of the analysis, it was decided to exploit the potential of the semi-public spaces and activate the communal areas within the individual parts of the building as well as the ground floor zones, including lobbies, and to also use the roof terraces in the future. Through this holistic placemaking approach, the site is to once again realize its full potential - as a lively meeting place for visitors and as an attractive location for businesses, retailers and restaurants.

To this end, Kinzo first developed new, target-group-oriented usage layouts for the various commercial spaces and publicly accessible areas. In their entirety, they are intended to enable the natural re-embedding of the area in the urban context - atmospherically, infrastructurally and economically. This also meets the requirement for a resource-saving, sustainable conversion of an existing building.

The commissioned structural measures include the design of several multifunctional lobby areas and the conversion of the Passerelle into a public bicycle parking area.