Town Hall of Berlin-Mitte

Open two-stage interdisciplinary competition for the new town hall of the Berlin-Mitte district, 2025
5th rank, 2nd phase

Client: Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing, Berlin
Landscape Architecture: ANNABAU, Berlin
Structural Engineering: PRIMINJUNG, Remagen
Building Services Engineering: HDH Ingenieure, Berlin
Visualisation: Grauwald, Berlin
Model: Maquette Modellbau, Berlin
Model photo: C4C | competence for competitions

Team: Prof. Jasper Jochimsen, Laura Herndl, Simon Stahnke

The new town hall is not merely an administrative building, but also a meeting place for citizens. Here, people can spend time, gather information, and engage with others without any obligation to consume. The ground floor opens up with attractive uses to the urban community, radiating into the adjacent public squares.

From a broad base, the sculptural structure evolves into a slender tower. A loggia at the southern tip of the tower accentuates the orientation towards Alexanderplatz and provides a distinctive architectural conclusion. The heights of the individual setbacks correspond exactly to those of the neighbouring buildings. The second tallest section is rotated parallel to Mollplatz, strengthening its spatial presence and increasing the building’s prominence towards the north.

The new town hall creates frontages facing both the new Rathausplatz, where the main entrance is located, and Mollplatz. It extends into the streetscape of Otto-Braun-Straße, with its tower aligned with the axis of Wadzeckstraße. Another entrance is situated at the centre of the façade on Otto-Braun-Straße. Deliveries and access to the mobility hub and underground car park are provided from the north, behind the planned hotel at Mollplatz.

The lower two floors are open to all. Above the spacious, top-lit foyer rises a four-storey atrium. The central information point is located at the entrance to the atrium. A grand staircase leads to the first and second floors, and a lift provides access to the public areas and the registry office on the top floor. Passing straight through the foyer, one reaches the library, which occupies the north-western quadrant of the floor plan. A side entrance on Otto-Braun-Straße gives direct access to the library. The public canteen is located in the prominent south-west corner.
From the foyer on the first floor, which wraps around the atrium, one enters the three-storey chamber of the district council. This space receives light from three sides and is clearly visible from the public realm. The events and exhibition area stretches between the southern and eastern façades. The conference and meeting rooms are oriented to the south and west. The party rooms of the district council on the second floor are connected via the second flight of the open staircase. Above the public plinth, the administrative offices are arranged in flexible and communicative spaces, allowing for open-plan, cellular, or combination offices as required.

The roof terraces, created by the building’s setbacks, are covered with pergolas and landscaped with greenery. These are available to all building users. The pergolas also serve as supports for photovoltaic panels, which are planned for all roof areas.

The first setback of the building is above the third floor. After further setbacks, a slender high-rise slab with a central core remains from the thirteenth floor upwards. The thirteenth floor houses a gym with views towards Alexanderplatz, while the sixteenth floor accommodates the registry office, offering panoramic views over Berlin. The ceremonial hall is preceded by a double-height loggia, providing a perfect backdrop for wedding photographs with the TV tower in the background.

The building is designed as a modular timber hybrid construction. Prefabricated façade elements made from non-loadbearing timber frame panels and exposed loadbearing timber columns, together with internal loadbearing columns, are assembled before hybrid floor elements with timber beams and reinforced concrete slabs are installed. This modular approach allows the building to be adapted over time to changing requirements. Loads above the large event spaces are supported by truss systems spanning three grid bays without columns.

The façades are clad with non-combustible, coloured glass fibre concrete panels. Every three floors, the columns become slimmer and are set back, so that the façade transforms from bottom to top until, at the uppermost level, the columns and the intermediate pilasters are of equal width. The colouring of the concrete panels reinforces this motif of progression, with the shade becoming slightly lighter every three floors.