Retort house at the Schöneberg gasometer

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Completely refurbished retort house at the Gasometer Schöneberg , 2011

The retort house at the Schöneberg gasometer (also: Messel retort house or, more colloquially, Messelbau ) is a building of the former gasworks in the Schöneberg district of Berlin on today's EUREF campus. It was planned and built by the German architect Alfred Messel at the end of the 19th century . Today only the eastern part is preserved, which has been under monument protection as part of the overall complex since 1994 and was completely renovated in 2010/2011. The building is located at the foot of the Schöneberg Gasometer, which was built between 1908 and 1910 .

Construction, original condition and first use (1889–1945)

In 1889, the Imperial Continental Gas Association commissioned Alfred Messel to build several supply buildings for the Schöneberger Gasanstalt. This also included a building complex that was supposed to contain the gas works' retort system. The exterior design was therefore the responsibility of a well-known German architect who had already drawn attention to himself through the construction of residential and commercial buildings. The retort house was completed in 1891 and decorated by Messel in the Brandenburg brick Gothic style . Pipe or town gas was generated in the building . It was originally one-story and has not yet been built with a cellar.

In the remaining eastern half, additional floors with storage and workshops have been built since the 1920s. The furnace systems were demolished and facade openings closed.

War destruction and temporary use (1945–2009)

During the Second World War , the western half of the test tube house was badly damaged. In the 1960s, the house was fundamentally rebuilt. More office space was created. The remnants of the western part of the building were finally demolished in 1980. The Berlin gas company GASAG used the other half of the building as a training workshop and issuing point for gas meters until 2009 .

Refurbishment and new use (since 2009)

From 2010 to 2011, the retort house through the EUREF AG was the architect Reinhard Müller fundamentally redeveloped . The north and west facades of the house were completely redesigned. Since the beginning of 2011 it has been supplied with electricity and heat by a biogas-operated combined heat and power unit in the neighboring house (former boiler house). It is considered the first CO 2 -neutral office building in Berlin.

The innovation center for mobility and social change (InnoZ) , which operated the electro-mobility platform here, was located on the ground floor from 2010 to April 2019 . The BeMobility project for the integration of electromobility into public transport was part of the platform . The two upper floors are currently (as of 2020) mainly facilities from the construction and energy sectors. At the end of 2020 the Agency for Renewable Energies, the Federal Association for Renewable Energy , the Federal Association of German Hydropower Plants , the Federal Association of Solar Mobility , the Federal Association of the Solar Industry , the Federal Association of WindEnergie , the Fördergesellschaft Erneuerbare Energien e. V. as well as the Biogas Association and the associations in the Capital Bioenergy Office move into the building.

literature

  • Franziska Schilling: Retort, boiler and machine house. In: Artur Gärtner: Alfred Messel. A guide to his buildings. Ludwig-Verlag, Kiel 2010, ISBN 978-3-86935-021-9 , pp. 152-155.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ First CO 2 -neutral office building erected in Berlin, EUREF AG press release of February 9, 2011
  2. ^ Anja Nehls: Berlin Mobility Center InnoZ is abandoned. Deutschlandfunk, April 30, 2019, accessed on May 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energie e. V .: detailed view. Retrieved March 27, 2020 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 28 ′ 55.1 ″  N , 13 ° 21 ′ 25.3 ″  E