Kant Garages Berlin

Nalbach + Nalbach, Johanne Nalbach

Products

1267
Door handle fitting

FSB pays tribute to the revered Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with this design. The FSB 1267 is more than just a replica of an orig­i­nal Mies van der Rohe lever handle, however. While re­tain­ing the formal thrust of its fore­bears, our in­ter­pre­ta­tion also con­forms to pre­sent-day stan­dards and the re­quire­ments of modern ar­chi­tec­ture – now in stain­less steel.

1267
Door handle fitting
1267
Door handle fitting
1267
Door handle fitting
1267
Door handle fitting
1268
Door handle fitting

Listed multistorey car park

What do the famous Château de Cham­bord and Europe’s oldest mul­ti­storey car park have in common? Dou­ble-spi­ral means of access and ascent. The Kant Garages built in the Berlin borough of Char­lot­ten­burg in 1929/1930 feature a dou­ble-spi­ral ramp that was di­rectly in­spired by the stair­case in the French château in the Loire valley. Com­plete seg­re­ga­tion of the lanes in and out is not the build­ing’s only note­wor­thy ar­chi­tec­tural asset, however, which is why the Kant Garages now jus­ti­fi­ably enjoy listed-mon­u­ment status. But it was not until 2013 that protests by various figures from culture and ar­chi­tec­ture led to in­ten­si­fied public debate about the build­ing, which had served as a high-rise car park with en suite filling station and garage fa­cil­i­ties for more than 83 years by then.

So taken by the “Kant Garage Palace” was Dirk Gädeke, its owner since 2017, that he tasked Johanne Nalbach (Nalbach+Nalbach Ar­chi­tects) with plan­ning its future. Despite the great in­ter­est shown, no eco­nom­i­cal means of saving the build­ing had been arrived at hith­erto. But the com­mit­ted, heart­felt blue­print the ar­chi­tect and her team have now come up with ensures the Kant Garages’ glazed curtain wall, the only one of its kind world­wide, can con­tinue to be ap­pre­ci­ated. Mod­ern-day tech­ni­cal and en­ergy-re­lated re­quire­ments notwith­stand­ing, its del­i­cate struc­tur­ing has been pre­served by in­sert­ing a further layer of glass behind it.

Though the plans foresaw com­pletely re­pur­pos­ing this “unique trans­port mon­u­ment of na­tional sig­nif­i­cance”, traces of the struc­ture’s pre­vi­ous func­tional iden­tity abound. Plan­ning pro­ceeded in close con­sul­ta­ton with the con­ser­va­tion au­thor­i­ties through­out. The arrival of stil­w­erk in the Kant Garages has turned them into a lo­ca­tion housing show­rooms, open ex­hi­bi­tion spaces and cater­ing fa­cil­i­ties. The spi­ralling ramps now serve as im­pos­ing spaces for chang­ing ex­hi­bi­tions – along the lines of the Guggen­heim ramp. Large glass doors at the ends of the ramps create a tan­gi­ble im­pres­sion of the various floors having once been con­tin­u­ously ne­go­tiable – as, indeed, they still are today.

Architecture and Object

Photo: Nalbach + Nalbach Ar­chitek­ten, Pro­fes­sorin Johanne Nalbach

“The mar­vel­lous thing about these Garages,” the ar­chi­tect for the project en­thuses, “is that they have re­mained vir­tu­ally un­changed since 1930. All still in place are some of the orig­i­nal Hein­richs booths in which cars were once parked – with their unique sliding doors built by Messrs Paul Hein­richs of Berlin –, the car-wash units, the glazed curtain wall at the back of the build­ing and one of only two dou­ble-spi­ral ramps to be found any­where in Europe – a ‘Guggen­heim ramp’ that is ideal for the holding of ex­hi­bi­tions.”

Period park-house architecture and modern design

The floor surface is that which was once tra­versed by motor ve­hi­cles, whilst a total of six her­itage parking boothes have been in­stalled on three floors, com­plete with their orig­i­nal metal roller-track doors, that simply ooze in­dus­trial charm. In ad­di­tion, the orig­i­nal colour scheme has been re­tained both inside and out. And yet, what was once a “place of luxury for the motor car” in which 300 ve­hi­cles could be ac­com­mo­dated – each booth being lock­able and equipped with central heating for its tender tenants along with its own power sockets and car-wash fa­cil­i­ties – is now a place in which to meet and live out design. The ground floor con­tains a wide range of cater­ing ser­vices, a concept store and far more besides. Show­rooms occupy the upper storeys, though the very top floor is given over to of­fic­ing. Linking all is the period ramp, which leads flow­ingly from ground level upwards.

Johanne Nalbach had a sin­gle-storey garage di­rectly ad­ja­cent de­mol­ished and re­placed with a 61-room hotel that is now like­wise being run by stil­w­erk. Rather than just another holiday des­ti­na­tion, it is in­tended to serve as a source of in­spi­ra­tion “for design afi­ciona­dos keen on ex­pe­ri­enc­ing fur­ni­ture in a re­lax­ing at­mos­phere and on trying out living with it for a while,” is how the hotel’s man­ager­ess for­mu­lates her es­tab­lish­ment’s busi­ness concept.

Door handles by FSB can be tried out in stil­w­erk’s Kant Garages, too – the FSB 1267 model on HPL doors and FSB 1268 on steel-frame doors. “The handle res­onates with the age that spawned the Kant Garages in the way it pays tribute to Mies van der Rohe,” ar­chi­tect Johanne Nalbach says of her choice, “and, with its sober, time­less design, sits well with the build­ing’s ar­chi­tec­tural iden­tity.” The handles have been fitted in a Matt Black variant ap­prox­i­mat­ing to RAL 9005.

Object Details

Photos: Ken Schlucht­mann, diephotodesigner.​de

Location

Kant-Garagen

Kantstraße,
10625 Berlin,
Deutsch­land

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