Licht Kunst Licht AG
Retail

Boulevard Berlin Shopping Center

Berlin, Germany
Architects
Ortner & Ortner Baukunst, Berlin
Client
Multi Veste Berlin GmbH
Occupant
Klépierre
Project size
76,000 sqm
Photos
Dimitrios Katsamakas
Completion
2012
Overall building budget
390 million euros
Lighting budget
1.2 million euros

Boulevard Berlin – An Urban District

In 2012 one of Germany’s biggest shopping malls opened in Berlin. With rental space of 76,000 square meters and about 160 rental units for retail, service stores and gastronomic concepts as well as a fitness center, the 390 million euro project will set new standards in Berlin-Steglitz.

Licht Kunst Licht AG
Licht Kunst Licht AG
Licht Kunst Licht AG
Licht Kunst Licht AG
Licht Kunst Licht AG
Licht Kunst Licht AG
Licht Kunst Licht AG
Licht Kunst Licht AG

The concept goes beyond the usual lighting of shopping malls. Above all it serves the architectural space and its ambience and manages to gain a memorable spatial experience for the costumers. The ceiling slabs are set in scene by cove lighting and create a comprehensible and spacious atmosphere without using the usual over-designed luminaires. This generous spatial feeling includes the partial reversal of the system passageways to other areas are deliberately lit in a more introverted fashion with concealed downlights. This way, the costumer is drawn back to the shopping areas where the illuminated ceilings unfold an almost sculptural effect.

At the inner court yard three staggered coves illuminate the orbiting mall areas from its structure. Under the skylight above the courtyard, HIT spotlights provide a powerful directional light. While areas with bright and crisp ceiling surfaces predominate the mall, the ceilings and pillars in the halls are covered with black stone. The by down- and spotlights intensifies the overall impression. Contrasting with the dark surfaces backlit freizes are placed at the center of the halls, sometimes integrated with the balustrades flanking the voids between basement and ground floor, sometimes directly under the ceiling. Powerful LED profiles mounted behind a translucent film create a grazing light effect on the white back walls. The surrounding galleries are linked by the same cove lighting close to the shopping window, but here, unlike the court yard, without increment.

The escalators clad in punched sheet brass are the most prominent eye-catcher in Wertheim foyer. This effect is visually supported by backlighting these panels and a luminous membrane ceiling. The promenade used to be a road link between two streets. Statutory requirements of the city dictated that the connection for pedestrians be kept open, also during the night hours. Therefore this part of the mall was covered with a glass roof and the flanking facades where designed in such a way to evoke the association of an outdoor space. The lighting design was to support the spatial impression of an outdoor space while creating a warm and inviting lighting.