Sofitel Berlin Kurfürstendamm

The Sofitel Berlin Kurfürstendamm on the corner of Augsburger Strasse (left) and Joachimstaler Strasse (right)

The Sofitel Berlin Kurfürstendamm (formerly: Hôtel Concorde Berlin ) is a building of contemporary architecture. It is located on the corner of Augsburger Strasse and Joachimsthaler Strasse in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg, not far from the Kurfürstendamm boulevard . The building was completed in October 2005 based on a design by the architect Jan Kleihues from the Kleihues + Kleihues office .

Construction work

The new building was built between November 2002 and October 2005 after a branch of the clothing company C&A was demolished . The planning for the building began in 1999. The client was Grothe Immobilien Projektierungs KG. With a height of 60.9 meters, the building is one of the tallest structures in Berlin City West (see also: List of high-rise buildings in Berlin ). The gross floor area is 45,000 m², the usable area 29,098 m² and the gross volume 158,710 m³. The total construction costs amounted to 67.5 million euros.

The facade was erected by BIS IKF GmbH, a company of the Bilfinger Berger Group , which has specialized in the realization of technically high-quality facades. The construction costs of the facade alone amounted to 10.5 million euros.

architecture

The architecture of the building represents a connection between the directly neighboring historical buildings in eaves height and the opposite high-rise buildings, the Swisshôtel and the listed Allianz high-rise building. For this purpose, the facade rises in stages from Augsburger and Joachimstaler Strasse up to the 17th floor at this street corner on. The top of the building on the steeply converging streets is rounded, and the windows are also curved. This gives the building a certain lightness and dynamism despite the large dimensions. The natural stone facade, which is reminiscent of American and French architecture in Art Deco style , is made of light Kirchheim shell limestone . This has fine reddish veins and inclusions, which, depending on the light conditions and viewing angle, make the facade appear gray to reddish. In addition to the numerous jumps in height, the facade is structured by horizontal bands.

Kleihues received an award for the design of the hotel from Architectural Digest magazine , which named the hotel the number 1 style highlight. The architect received an award for the building in 2006 at the “Berlin Architecture Prize”. In 2007, Kleihues received the “best architects Award” in the “Other buildings” category for the building. At the German Natural Stone Prize 2007, the building was honored with an "Honorable Mention".

hotel

The Sofitel Berlin Kurfürstendamm, at that time still the Hôtel Concorde Berlin , opened on November 1, 2005 as the twentieth 5-star hotel in City West. It belongs to the French hotel chain Sofitel .

Jan Kleihues, the architect of the building, also designed the interior architecture and furniture of the hotel. He kept them in clear forms, warm colors and elegant furnishings. The aim was to keep the interior timelessly modern through its simplicity. The materials used by Kleihues for this are walnut , smoked oak , Corian and Carrara marble . The hotel has 267 rooms and 44 suites as well as 16 conference rooms, including a ballroom for up to 350 people.

In all public areas, such as the reception, the lobby and the restaurants, works by contemporary German artists from the collection of Hans Grothe are on display. In the reception hall there are sculptures by Dietrich Klinge and a painting by Junior Toscanelli . Toscanelli art prints also decorate rooms and suites. The second floor was designed by the artist Katrin Kampmann , who worked here with large screens and intense colors.

In 2009 the hotel received the “Grenander Award” in the hotel business category. When the “Mendelssohn Medal” was awarded in 2009, the Hotel Concorde took second place. The hotel's efforts to combat illiteracy were recognized . As part of the “Travelers' Choice Awards” by the travel portal TripAdvisor , the Hotel Concorde has always achieved a top position among German hotels in recent years (2010 place 2, 2011 place 3, 2012 place 14).