NEO – Büro am Ku´damm

Although Knesebeckstrasse in the district of Charlottenburg is both well-known and popular, the buildings from the 1930s to 1980s at its southern end appear somewhat dull in comparison to the splendours of Kurfürstendamm. A fresh start is now being made on plots 62 and 63, however, where a new office building is in planning. While its lavish plasticity clearly references Kurfürstendamm and its side streets, “NEO – Büro am Ku´damm” does not disown modernity as embodied by the adjacent office buildings from the 1930s and 1950s. Instead, their qualities are reflected in a generous use of glass, the horizontal emphasis of the facade articulation, and a spacious ground floor design. The courtyard building has two cores, offering a broad array of office and commercial spaces. Passing through the entrance area, which spans two floors, visitors reach the green interior courtyard forming an address of its own serviced by the rear access core. The windows on the firewall on the southern side of the new complex face the courtyard of the adjacent listed building, Knesebeck Ensemble, as this wall closes the northern side of the adjoining courtyard. With its opulent architectural expressiveness, its fine materials, and its anthropomorphous physiognomy, the NEO project is part of western Berlin’s quest for an architectural character of its own.