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Top 10 Architects<br />
1 Helmut Jahn<br />
(Sony Center)<br />
2 Renzo Piano and<br />
Christian Kohlbecker<br />
(debis Headquarters,<br />
Musical-Theater,<br />
Spielbank, Weinhaus<br />
Huth)<br />
3 José Rafael Moneo<br />
(Hotel Grand Hyatt,<br />
Mercedes-Benz<br />
Headquarters)<br />
4 Hans Kollhoff<br />
(DaimlerChrysler)<br />
5 Giorgio Grassi<br />
(Park Colonnades)<br />
6 Ulrike Lauber and<br />
Wolfram Wöhr (Grimm-<br />
Haus, Cinemaxx)<br />
7 Sir Richard Rogers<br />
(Office Block Linkstraße)<br />
8 Steffen Lehmann and<br />
Arata Isozaki<br />
(Office and Retail House<br />
Linkstraße)<br />
9 Heidenreich & Michel<br />
(Weinhaus Huth)<br />
0 Bruno Doedens and<br />
Maike van Stiphout<br />
(Tilla-Durieux-Park)<br />
Europe’s largest<br />
building site<br />
In the 1920s, Potsdamer Platz was Europe’s busiest<br />
square, boasting the first automatic traffic lights in<br />
the world. During World War II this social hub was<br />
razed to the ground. Untouched for almost 50 years,<br />
the empty square shifted back into the centre of<br />
Berlin when the Wall came down. During the 1990s,<br />
Potsdamer Platz became Europe’s largest building<br />
site – millions of curious onlookers from around the<br />
world came to watch progress from the famous red<br />
info box. Altogether, around 17 billion euros were<br />
invested to create the present square.<br />
DaimlerChrysler House<br />
Moving the Esplanade<br />
The Council of Berlin stipulated that Sony should<br />
preserve the “Breakfast Room” and the “Emperors’<br />
Hall” of the Grand Hotel Esplanade, both<br />
protected following destruction in World War II.<br />
Accordingly, in 1996, the rooms were moved –<br />
1,300 tons were loaded onto wheels and shifted<br />
by 75 m (246 ft) during the course of a week.<br />
The historic Emperors’ Hall is today incorporated into the modern Sony Center<br />
Berlin’s Top 10<br />
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