The site is located within the Berlin Tiergarten, a public park which serves as a living monument for its everyday experiences in nature and as well as historical Berlin. The seemingly endless and intimate pathways within the park create a curving labyrinth of landscape and vegetation, allowing the visitor to meander through a complex of the city’s triumphs and struggles. Due to Berlin’s urban arrangement, a park like the Tiergarten has become an outlet of inspiration and relaxation. Along the eastern edge of the Berlin Tiergarten is a reminder of what broke the heart of the city in two: a portion of where the Berlin wall once stood. A program was generated to create a transformative space based on the delicate historical and current conditions of the area. A transformative space should be multi-sensory, a space where scale environment are measured by the sense. The objective of this transformative space was to strengthen the common Berlin urbanite with an experience of self with areas of rest and repose in configuration with an intricate set of tensions. These tensions involve architectural and landscape elements tied to the experience. The design uses the elegance of the curve to mimic its existing environmental and architectural influences.

 

The idea of establishing a common language through curvilinear form comes from the inspiration of motion. The expansion, contraction, rest, and balance of human instincts allow for a perceptive experience. Drawing exterior space inward and turning interior space outward was  the broader concept for a design so intimate to its surroundings and the human experience. The tall and narrow openings leave for an impression of ascension and isolation with the raw material and sky. The user is to practice empathy and patience in these areas of exposure to the elements. The design lets a hand to the user in their experience of self, allowing them to choose an area of communal engagement or self-reflection. The strategy at a macro level proposes a solution to signify the adjacent remnants of the Berlin Wall. Disrupting the existing pathway structure recreates a places where the hardscape is prioritized, similar to how greenspace is to the Tiergarten.

concept sketches