Berlin Alt-Hohenschönhausen
On the outskirts of Berlin, this 26-hectare former industrial zone with an agricultural and industrial history is the subject of a broad public consultation aimed at its transformation. The project is designed to include a park, public facilities, and housing, while preserving and expanding one-third of the area for production and urban logistics activities. This transformation is built on pre-existing features: an irregular parcel layout inherited from the site’s agricultural and industrial history, a former railway line crossing it from East to West, industrial warehouses, and rows of trees. The process is intended to be gradual: the park emerges from the reinforcement and enhancement of existing green corridors. Respect for the inherited parcel layout facilitates phased development and creates varied features along urban pathways. Finally, the preserved industrial halls are returned to the residents by housing key public facilities: a library, a sports hall, and an intergenerational center.
Access to the heart of the neighborhood is reserved for pedestrians and non-motorized transportation. Reversible parking garages are strategically located at the entrances. Public spaces, as well as shared and private gardens, form part of open, visual, and ecological continuities, thanks to predominantly open blocks. All stormwater on the site is treated on-site via swale networks that run alongside pathways and landscaped retention areas.
More than half of the logistics roofs can be equipped with photovoltaic panels, and residual heat from the new data center heats the surrounding buildings in addition to the new geothermic network. Electric charging points encourage decarbonized trips for residents and users, and rainwater is collected for use as gray waters in housings.
The variety of housing types is designed to promote social and intergenerational diversity: townhouses, family apartments, and specialized residences share common areas and a central garden with a playground.
Berlin, Germany
ZEITGEIST Asset Management GmbH
270,000 m²: 93,433 m² of commercial spaces, 82,930 m² of housing and 97,193 m² of cultural and social infrastructures
SERP (landscape), Zefco (HQE), Transsolar (HQE), AREP (mobility), ZWP (structure, acoustic)
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Competition
Mickael Hassani, Leonie Heinrich, Nina Krass
1rst prize laureate 2026