Berlin is a green city, with the Tiergarten at its heart and a necklace of forests and lakes. Still, a public park atop a new office building is a new model of urban landscaping for the German capital. Named Darwinstrasse 1 for its street address in the Charlottenberg district, this is an eight-storey linear block – the first to be built on a former industrial site beside the River Spree.
Designed by the prolific Berlin firm Grüntuch Ernst Architeken, it applies the sustainable architecture principles laid out in Hortitecture, a book that includes contributions made by 33 architects at a series of symposia on the synergy of architecture and plantings, and how that enhances the environment.
