Case study - Tempelhof airport, Germany

Initially planned in the 1920s, the Berlin Tempelhof Airport was considered as one of the world’s oldest functioning airports until its closure in 2008 (The New York Times, 2008). The construction of the airport started in 1936 and was stopped in 1941 due to the beginning of the second world war. After the war, the construction process was never wholly brought to the originally planned finish. Nonetheless, the building held the merit of being the largest single-existing building during the time of its construction. In 1995 the building was added to the list of protected monuments in Germany due to both its architectural as well as historical value. Between the years 2012 and 2015 the protection plans of the building and its surrounding were updated and declared that the area should be converted into public use and be connected to the rest of the city of Berlin. The total area of the airport reaches 355 ha, making it more than eight times the size of Vatican City. (Tempelhof Projekt GmbH, 2019)

The decision to close Tempelhof came from the plan to concentrate air traffic to the newer Schönefeld Airport which was also planned to undergo expansions and be converted to be a part of a completely new Brandenburger Airport.

(Bundesverwaltungsgericht, 2007)

The concept

After the decision to close the airport for air traffic, new purposes for the building and its surrounding had to be discovered. In August 2009, the municipality of Berlin announced that the outdoor area surrounding the original airport building would be converted into a large municipality park “The Tempelhofer Feld” (Figure 23). The park was opened to the public in 2010. (Berlin.de, nd)

In 2019 the party Berlin CDU stated that they plan on turning 110 ha of the total area of 355 ha into a forest in order to gain more usage of the immense surface of the previous airport. (Anker, 2019)

Fig. 23: The earlier (a) (TSGT Jose Lopez Jr., 1984), current (b) (Berlin.de, 2020), and future (c) (CDU Berlin, 2019) utilisation of the outdoor area of Tempelhofer Airport.

The repurposing of the actual airport building required more planning. The demolition of the building was never an option since the building was declared protected already in 1995. The majority of the following information regarding the current and future aspects of the Tempelhof airport has been acquired from a report released in 2019 by the Tempelhof Project GmbH (Tempelhof Projekt GmbH, 2019). Since the termination of the aviation traffic in 2008 the building has been widely used by various small businesses and as a venue for different kind of events. The building consists of ca.

205.000 m² rentable space out of which 62% are rented out to various organisations and small businesses temporarily or permanently. Some of the businesses and

organisations who are currently renting out parts of the previous airport building include the police department of Berlin, IT developer companies, a private university, a dance school and other small companies. Between 2015 and 2019 the building and parts of the surrounding park area were used to facilitate refugee camps.

At the moment a large amount of the rentable area is not in refurbished condition, but a big-scale renovation is being planned to expand the usable space that the airport has to offer. This is estimated to take 5-15 years to complete and is referred to as Vision 2030+ concept. The main concepts behind Vision 2030+ are related to public use, a design which adapts to the building´s already existing structures and mixed utilisation.

Perhaps one of the most central aspects is the public accessibility which will be achieved by making the ground floor open for public but also by declaring the rest of the building to be an unrestricted area thus allowing visitors to visit and appreciate the monument as a whole. The building will also be renovated in a way which respects and complements the current architecture of the building instead of changing it. Finally, the massive building is planned to offer space for a multitude of usages varying from offices to art exhibitions. The hangars are intended to be turned permanently into cultural halls.

The renovations and regulations

Since some of the structural plans of the airport were missing, new structural tests and measurements needed to be performed in order to establish the current structural situation. The results of these tests ended up showcasing many challenges and issues concerning the state of the building. Since some parts of the building were built during the second world war when there was a shortage of materials, a large discrepancy between the planned construction and the actual execution came to exist. The quality of the material used was inferior, thus leading to weaker structural stability and life expectancy.

The technical infrastructure including heat, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), the electrical systems and also the sewage systems were found to be in a poor state and in desperate need of refurbishment in order to adapt the building´s condition to current regulations. Due to the airport´s primary purpose changing to public and office areas but also due to the building´s ripe age, many updates needed to be planned and executed concerning the safety regulations. For example, the fire regulations will be updated during the year 2020 to fit current standards. Another safety aspect which has been taken into consideration is the possible presence of hazardous materials and how

to remove them accordingly. Based on the structural tests, a large surface of the façade’s total 133.000 m² will need improvements in both stability and safety. The absence of construction documents makes this process even more complicated.

The future plans

In February 2020 a small part of the building, the visitor centre “Check-in”, was opened to the public offering insights of the on-going renovation process, the future plans for the space as well as tours around the premises.

The western side of the airport and the old air traffic control tower are planned to be renovated and the Swiss-based architectural company :MLZD is responsible for the works. The tower will be accessible for tourists and along with the coverage of the roof surfaces with wooden tiles, will allow the visitors to have a panoramic view of the entirety of the Tempelhof field (Figure 24).

Fig. 24: Left the current condition of the old traffic control and right the planned renovation. (:MLZD, 2016)

The sixth floor of the western side of the airport will receive a transformation into venues for art and exhibitions (Figure 25).

Fig. 25: The condition in 2016 (left) and future design plans (right) for the western side of the airport.

(:MLZD, 2016)

According to Tempelhof Projekt GmbH, there are currently around 70.000 visitors per year and approximately 80 companies and institutions that have their quarters in the former airport. This number will increase with the completion of the planned renovation works.