The Townhouse Model and its Regulators

Text and photos: György Szegő

Friedrichswerder had been populated in the 17th and 18th centuries as the first „new city” of Berlin, with residential districts and offices of the court being built at the foot of the Baroque city walls still existing back in those days. In 1993, after the unification of the country and the capital a tender was published for its northern neighbouring quarter, the Spree Island (Spree-Insel) to focus on constructions by the state. In 1999 the Senate of Berlin approved of the Inner City Plan, applying the concept of critical construction also to Friedrichswerder as a guiding principle. In Berlin both the builders and the managers of the project of Townhouse had to come to an agreement with the Federal State Property Agency selling the area concerned and the City Development Office of the Senate.