After extensive renovation, renovation and expansion, the Club and Boutique Hotel Soho House has moved in as a user. Founded in 1995, Soho House now has 14 properties worldwide that provide a second home to the international creative community. Soho House brings together diverse groups of people who come from the traditional fields of the creative industry, as well as film, fashion, advertising, music, art or the media.
The 18,500 m² building, which was called Haus der Einheit, continues to be designed as a unit - a home for a growing creative center in Berlin. It is a place to work, get together and relax. It comprises more than ten storeys with 65 hotel rooms, 24 service apartments and 4 lofts. It also includes a gym, a spa, a cinema, several bars, a rooftop pool, restaurants, various function rooms and a marketplace.
The building was built in pre-war modern style as reinforced concrete skeleton construction with a load-bearing brickwork façade. The eight-storey monumental building has two flanking corner towers on the main facade. In the direction of the side wings, the building falls by an elegant staggered back to the eaves height of the surrounding buildings. The entire main building, side wing and courtyard are built on a cellar. Dominant and maintained was the slanted, recessed and tower-like elevated corner buildings of seven storeys with a patch, attached attic floor.
The revitalization of the building was planned with a view to its architectural roots. In addition to the renovation of the existing building, some sections of the building have been completely renovated and integrated into the existing building fabric. During the renovation work, a comprehensive pollutant analysis was carried out and the pollutants, in particular asbestos, man-made mineral fibers, tar products and PCB, professionally dismantled and renovated.
The old characteristically curved cream-colored façade with risalites has been restored. New wood composite windows - after researching old inventory drawings from the archives - were produced by a Berlin-based company and ensure the increased requirements for sound and sun protection. At the same time, the windows of the courtyard façade were replaced by wooden windows and the exterior plaster, old cracks and natural stone were subjected to a large-scale refurbishment in accordance with the historical appearance. The newly erected mullion and transom façade on the ground floor takes up the original façade divisions and profile thicknesses.
All necessary sealing work on the canopies and in the squadron floors was reserved and monument-appropriate. The same applied to the planning and redesign of the Soho House identity-forming roof terrace, which houses a pool. Barely noticeable on the street side due to the transparent fall protection, it offers an unrestricted view of Alexanderplatz and the surrounding area.
Furthermore, a new, curved spiral staircase was used to create a new connection between the lower, ground and first floors - in line with the continuously curved façade structure. Even inside, one is carefully circumvented with the historic building and its substance. Among other things, the former study of East German President Wilhelm Pieck including its wall cladding and ceiling formwork was restored to its original condition. The floors, used light switches, tiles and new wooden doors were embedded with much effort and creativity to detail.
