When arriving at Berlin through the exits of its brand new HAUPTBAHNHOF designed by von Gerkan, Marg and Partner I was greeted by the beginnings of a wonderful riverside development along the River Spree. Gardens, beach bars, deckchairs, double beds are all features of the chill-out lifestyle that can be found on the waterfront.
Other destinations on the river also include the Strandbar Mitte- Berlin's first 'coastal' bar with urban pseudo-beach.
and the Badeschiffe, award winning floating swimming pool on the Spree which turns into a covered sauna in winter. Designed by Gil Wilk architects, it won the IULA 2007, International Urban Landscape Award, „Lobende Erwähnung“, Winterbadeschiff (Wilk-Salinas Architekten mit Thomas Freiwald)
However, although the banks of the river have been transformed since the reunification of Berlin from its working heritage to a vibrant, modern and some would say gentrified waterfront for 21st Century Berliners, the river itself has remained a polluted sewage outlet for its turn of the 19th century drains.
Enter Ralf Steeg, landscape architect and engineer who has been working on project SPREE: 2011 with the aim of creating an ecologically sound river suitable for swimming in, worthy of a major European capital city that Berlin could be proud of and that would improve the people's standard of living .
'He plans to erect large overflow tanks in the form of floating pontoons at various points along a four-kilometer stretch of the Spree, thus preventing human waste from overflowing into the river and giving the water a chance to regain its natural balance.'
THE PONTOON
THE BATHING PLATFORM
OPEN-AIR CINEMA
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