Its facade lights up at night. Providing an
underground shopping connection between the Galeries
Lafayette and a third Friedrichstrasse building with retail space, this mixed-use
(retail, residential, & office) building playfully announces itself on the
predominantly staid Friedrichstrasse, once the most important shopping street in Berlin.
Quartier 206 is one among a large number of parcels along Friedrichstrasse which have been
redeveloped in a concerted effort to return the street to its former glory.
Unlike the Galeries Lafayette one block to the
north, (and true to mixed-use program) this building expresses no single identity. Its
restlessly protruding and receding facade is supposed to recall the rhythm of many
buildings on a block. This leads not so much to a sense of multiplicity, but of
anonymity—which, depending on one’s outlook, is either unfortunate or quite
appropriate for a building in a sophisticated world class city. The play of pattern and
geometry on the facades is continued in a lens-shaped public atrium. The atrium’s
intricately patterned floor, free-standing curved stair and escalators, and fine detailing
are signature Pei Cobb Freed.
Jay Berman 1999
How to visit
Take the Ubahn U2 or U6 to Stadtmitte and walk
north along Friedrichstrasse. The building is block 206, between Franzoesische Strasse and
Mohrenstrasse. It is open during shopping hours.
