The historic KPM Quarter is located in the emerging Berlin neighborhood of “Spreestadt”, where the Royal Porcelain Manufactory KPM has had its resident since the 19thcentury.
Our design for the outside spaces aims at a morphological continuation and effortless transition of materiality and color, as prefigured by the built structures – namely the yellow and reddish clinker of the historic buildings and the muted green, beige and grey natural stone of the new complexes.
Perpetuating the given structures like an expendable canon, the selected paving, urban furniture, and plants form discrete structures, which gently align with the existing edifices. A differentiated paving pattern using small-scale cobblestone in the connective alleys and large beige tiles on the big square absorbs the two main scales and extends the building’s plot into the horizontal. Standoffish elements such as bronze water features constitute an atmospheric continuity between the different visual and tactile qualities. Evergreen black pine trees and auburn oak-brass benches with brass elements complete the quiet robust aesthetics and form a flowing transformative site where color, form, and material merge into a dynamic composition.