Kornversuchsspeicher, Berlin | Germany

With the renovation and transformation of the Kornversuchsspeicher in Berlin, a significant industrial monument of the early 20th century is given a new usage perspective. The striking brick building, originally built as a test and storage facility for grain, was carefully continued by AFF Architekten and converted into a contemporary office building and commercial property.

Built at the end of the 19th century as a six-storey, box-type container, the Kornversuchsspeicher was used to research new methods of grain storage for a growing city. The ensemble was already extended a few years later with a reinforced concrete frame whose characteristic funnel-shaped storage ceilings shape the spatial impression to this day. The original building consisted of solid brickwork with an internal wooden construction. After a fire in 1915/16, it was converted to reinforced steel. The listed building has now been comprehensively renovated in its latest conversion phase by AFF Architekten and transformed into contemporary office and commercial premises with a gross floor area of 3,600 square metres.  

A new top floor references the original storage format with a roof lantern. The brickwork is continued but differentiated by slight protrusions and recesses of the existing building. Two roof terraces open the building up to the city and the canal. The historic clinker facade has been repaired, defects have been amended and windows replaced. As regards the extension building, the damaged concrete structure needed an extensive renovation. Some of the closed panels were replaced with large-scale glazing which provides a stronger link between the interior and the exterior. The image is shaped in the interior by solid reinforced concrete stilts and the characteristic funnel-shaped storage ceilings. Steel gallery levels divide the areas into zones and bring the special geometry of the ceilings to life for the first time at their full height. A new development core links the two parts of the building. The staircase, lifts, utility rooms and side rooms are concentrated here.

The electrical equipment follows the approach of continuous building in detail. The ranges LS 990 and LS CUBE were used, both in aluminium. The clear styling of LS 990 with its reduced geometry blends discreetly into the industrial environment. With LS CUBE, the installation is carried out on the wall where interventions in the listed building were not possible or where visible technology corresponds to the architectural concept. The uniform aluminium surface of LS 990 and LS CUBE adopts the cool tones of steel and concrete elements and underlines the objective character of the architecture.

The Kornversuchsspeicher stands today for precise handling of a technical monument. With roof construction, exposed funnel-shaped storage ceilings and the newly inserted service core, the building was not reinvented but built upon. The interventions sharpen the spatial qualities of the existing building and make its special design features tangible.