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Project:
British Embassy
Location:
Berlin |
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On July 18, 2000, Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the new residence of the British Embassy in Berlin. Thus, after 60 years, the embassy has returned to its original site at Wilhelmstrasse 70-71, in the vicinity of the Brandenburger Tor.
It was the first time in the history of the British monarchy that a monarch has designated a new diplomatic mission. In her opening speech the queen emphasized that the new embassy should be a “Showcase for Britain”, visited by many people, its function rooms open to the public.
British penchant for the ironic counterpoint
During her opening speech the Queen stated that the new embassy building was skewed and bold, exhibiting the British's beloved penchant for the ironic counterpoint. During the topping-out ceremony, the British ambassador, Sir Paul Lever, had already summed up the architecture of the new embassy: “The design by the prize-winning architects, Michael Wilford and Partners provides us with an open and modern building that characterises our excellent relationship with Germany.”
The design by the architects Michael Wilford and Partners had to combine three individual requirements to be fulfilled by the “diplomatic” building: Within the unique urban environment of historic Berlin a functional space allocation plan had to be realized on a site enclosed by adjoining buildings.
A tragic history
The historical embassy building right next to the Hotel Atlon, in use between 1875 and 1939, had been destroyed by bombs during World War II and demolished by GDR-authorities during the Sixties. As a symbol for the old times the wrought-iron gate of the old embassy were integrated into the new embassy building.
Concrete admixtures and separating agents from MC
In almost two years of a work a modern building was created, which nevertheless evoked memories of the old embassy. On the whole, approx. 7.500 m3 of concrete were used and modified with MC- products from the company's diverse system-range for concretes. More than 10,000 kg of CENTRAMENT-concrete plasticiser and more than 1,500 l of ORTOLAN-release agent guaranteed optimal concrete properties and excellent concrete-surfaces.
Beautiful concrete fit for a Queen
Especially demanding requirements had to be fulfilled with regard to the fairfaced-concrete surfaces. The optically perfect surface finish of the fairfaced-concrete areas was created with approx. 5,000 kg ready-mix mortar from MC. |
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