ABSTRACT
In 1992, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) and Christoph Kohlbecker won an invited urban design competition for a tract of land stretching from Potsdamer Platz, in what had been East Berlin, to the Kultureforum, in what was West Berlin. The principal client for the redevelopment was Daimler-Benz Interservices, AG (Debis). RPBW designed many of the buildings in the scheme, starting with the Debis headquarters. Renzo Piano Building Workshop was responsible for ten of the nineteen individual buildings projected in the winning masterplan. The use of CNC machining allows for great precision and allows variation and customization of profiles within the façade units. Niederrheinische Baukeramik produced the ceramic extrusions and pieces, to be shipped to Gotz’s workshop in Deggendorf, Bavaria, where they were assembled on the units that contained all the other elements, like windows, an insulated spandrel panel, sunshading slats.
