The 25 meters high AquaDom Lobby aquarium, the worlds largest, holds 2,500 tropical fish and 1 million liters of water.
Photo: arcspace
The new Radisson SAS Hotel is located on the banks of the River Spree, across from Museum Island and the Berliner Dom, in the historical center of the new Berlin.
Photo: arcspace
The hotel, with its clean lines, warm colors and the latest equipment, reflects the atmosphere of the new Berlin as a trend-setting, dynamic and design-conscious metropolis.
The giant AquaDom in the center of the lobby, combined with a vast amount of sandblasted glass, accentuated with the subtle use of color-changing lighting effects, gives a transparent-like feeling to the lobby. The reception area is a line of freestanding satelite stations.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
From the curved Atrium Lobby Bar and Lounge area, located below the AquaDom, there is a fantastic view of the tropical fish in the vibrantly colored reef landscapes,
and the glass-enclosed elevator that takes visitors up through the aquarium to the top floor restaurant.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
The hotel restaurants and the "Splash" Wellness Center, with its swimming pool and Venetian tiles, are also characterized by their contemporary design.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
The rooms are a clean design with dark wood, warm colors, LCD flat screen, and high-speed internet access. The design concept is enhanced with Asian design details mixed with contemporary western elements.
Photo courtesy Radisson SAS Hotel
Photo: arcspace
The interior rooms look out over the atrium, offering "ocean views" of the AquaDom, the exterior rooms overlook the Berliner Dom, the Museum Island, the Red Town Hall or Alexanderplatz with the 365 meter-high TV and radio tower; the highest building in Berlin.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
The interiors are designed by Virgile and Stone, London, the Architects Partnership BHPS - Bassenge, Heinrich, Puhan-Schulz, Berlin, and Mahmaudiehdesign and Mahmaudiehconcepts, Berlin. The cylindrical aquarium was built by International Concept Management, Inc. (ICM), Colorado, USA. The Radisson SAS Hotel Berlin is part of the DomAquaree complex, which was built for DIFA, Hamburg, and includes the underwater world of the Sea Life Center Berlin, a covered shopping arcade, offices and luxury apartments.
Photo courtesy Radisson SAS Hotel
Staying at the SAS Radisson you are within walking distance to both new and old Berlin; from magnificent buildings dating back to Kaiser Wilhelm to the latest examples of modern architecture.
Walk out the door and pass by the Palace of the Republic (1976), a cuboid structure with orange-tinted windows, built under the communist regime.
Then cross Schinkel's Schlossbrücke (1824) to Unter den Linden and, if you are a Karl Friedrich Schinkel lover, visit the Schinkel Museum in the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, a red brick church designed by Schinkel himself, the Royal Guardhouse (1816), the National Theatre (1823), and the "Alte" Museum (1830) on Museum Island.
Walk a little further along Unter den Linden and turn down Friedrichstrasse, towards Checkpoint Charlie, and you will find buildings by Jean Nouvel, Philip Johnson, Aldo Rossi, Josef Paul Kleihues, Rem Koolhaas, Oswalt Mathias Ungers, and more.......
Turn back to Unter den Linden, and walk towards the Brandenburg Gate, passing by the Guggenheim Berlin by Richard Gluckman, the German Historical Museum by I.M. Pei, the British Embassy by Michael Wilford and,on Pariser Platz, the DZ Bank by Frank Gehry and the French Embassy by Christian de Portzamparc.
Pass by twobuildings by Josef Paul Kleihues, and the new construction site of the American Embassy by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects, to the Reichtag by Norman Foster and further to the Federal Chancellery by Axel Schultes and Charlotte Frank.
Taking the opposite direction from the Brandenburg Gate walk pass the Field of Stelae by Peter Eisenman to Potsdamer Platz and check out the new buildings by Renzo Piano, Rafael Moneo, Helmut Jahn, Richard Rogers, Nicolas Grimshaw, and more...
This is just going in one direction from the hotel.
June 15, 2004
