Berlin’s Tiergarten is more than a park, it is the heart and lung of the city. It represents a recreational zone, an attraction for tourists, an architectural and political storefront, open air museum, memorial, forest and english garden.
Our proposal is born out of the desire of becoming a remarkable architectural contribution, subordinate to the monumental and historical Tiergarten.
We renounce to design a massive building in order to pursue the integration into the park and minimize the impact allocating the program below ground, except for the access and access control. Thus, the program’s complexity is embodied in a discrete, clear and open volume, that provides the visitor with a lightness and security sense, and keeps the Reichstag’s main role within the complex
The pedestrian access is located at the intersection between Simonsweg and Kleine Qerallee, which form a plaza where visitors can meet quietly, easily detectable and visually communicated with the Reichstag and Chancellery buildings.
The building is conceived as an access pavilion embraced by the Tiergarten forest’s luxuriance, equipped with a generous deck that shelters the visitors, protecting them on rainy and snowy days. This deck consists of a wooden structure creating a pergola sometimes open, sometimes closed, continuing the play of light and shade, characteristic of the surrounding trees.
Once through security control, the visitor arrives to the main hall where the information desk is located. Due to the high inflow of visits expected, we propose separating circulation from uses, solving it through the mezzanine floor by means of a bridge that will lead the visitor to the connection tunnel with the Reichstag’s building, situated on the lower floor.
The visitor will then be able to decide whether to visit the exhibition, go to the classroom area, screening room and so on, or access the connection tunnel with the historical building and its crowded panoramic dome.
The café is located on the first floor, willing to create an oasis among the treetops where to take a break and enjoy the sight of the historical Reichstag’s building at the end of the visit. The giftshop forms volume adjacent to the pavilion, close to the Scheidemannstrasse’s exit.
The BIZ visitors center pursues a sustainable design for everyone and integrates into its setting contributing to the Reichstag’s cultural landscape’s perception.
