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Streets for Berlin
Berlin Hauptbahnhof - The project
Previous history
Industrial plants, extensive derelict areas and warehouses shaped the character of the site around the former Lehrter Bahnhof [aereal view] up to the 1990s. Urban plans from the beginning of the 20th century show the former Urania exhibition park (ULAP), of which only the western tip survived.
In 1992 the decision was taken to develop Lehrter Bahnhof into the hub railway station of the Berlin rail network. The north-south connection will cross under the Tiergarten and the river Spree through a tunnel. Two large transverse buildings [model] will simulate its course as above-ground structures.
In parallel, building work is in progress on the tunnel installations for the B96, U5 and S21. There are connections between them to ensure that most of the 250,000 people who will arrive or change at the new hub station every day do not exit the station on the street level.
The district Lehrter Bahnhof - the new quarter at the central station
In the mid-1990s the architect, Oswald Mathias Ungers, won the competition for the development [model] of the neighbouring district. Between Invalidenstraße, the river Spree and Humboldt harbour a denser inner city district is taking shape. Unger's plans divide the area into three sections: Humboldt harbour will be surrounded by new residential colonnades. The actual railway area with a north and south square will be left undeveloped aside from a hotel cube in the south and a single tower in the north. In the west the tram lines will pass through a new district with the classical Berlin block pattern with access roads for the residents. To the north and the south of the station building two generous squares will form an urban clasp and also act as an attractive entrance to the station.
The Berlin transport network
Invalidenstraße is the northerly boundary of the urban district Lehrter Bahnhof [plan]. As the main road it is part of the future Berlin inner city ring and the most important feeder to the road tunnel of the B96 under the Tiergarten. In the south the road Alt-Moabit links the district over Möltcke with the chancellery. From Washingtonplatz, Spreeuferstraße turns off as the west-east connection onto Schiffbauerdamm.
These roads in the north and south integrate the district into the Berlin road network.
Berlin's most important station is being anchored in the city's transport network through numerous new connections. The suburban railway lines which use the tram tracks, the new underground line 5, at a later stage the S 21, too, and the new tram connections are on hand for visitors and Berliners. Most people changing here don't even have to leave the station [simulation]. Nevertheless, the forecasts estimate 75,000 passengers daily who will live and work near the station and thus move around here. Of them, 52,000 will use the north exit on Invalidenstraße to the federal Ministries of Transport and Economic Affairs. This is also the location of the taxi right of way to the station. 20,000 people will leave the station through the south exit [simulation] onto the new urban square and to the chancellery on the other side of the river Spree, another 1,000 will use the east exit of the station to Humboldt harbour.
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