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Marina Project

Berlin, Germany

Opening in spring of 2022, the Marina Project is a creative campus at the intersection of wellbeing, culture and sustainability set at the site of the historic Spree River Baths in one of Berlin’s most dynamic emergent cultural quarters.

01 Werft

02 Platte

03 Ritualraum

04 Bootshaus

Hover over the map to explore our campus.

01 Werft
02 Platte
03 Ritualraum
04 Bootshaus

01 Werft

An architectural collaboration of neo-brutalist master Arno Brandlhuber with Christian Kerez and Muck Petzet, the Werft is the central hub of Marina's assemblage of adaptive reuse and new constructions. The modular curved concrete structure houses 42 guestrooms, a 186-square-meter penthouse with private rooftop garden, a library and ground-floor exhibition space and amphitheater, where the Slow community comes together to share knowledge, ideas and creative works.

Shaped by function and the raw sourcing of used materials, the interiors by Austrian designer Monika Gogl create a supportive environment, free from distraction, to help guests set their minds to what matters. In the Library, a constantly evolving collection of titles reflect the goals, interests and sensibilities of Slow, from art and design to green energy, biodynamic agriculture and the preservation of ancient spiritual practices.

Werft entrance, view of exhibition space, amphitheater and hotel.

Werft, alternate view.

Werft penthouse and event space.

Werft offices with translucent polycarbonate facade, view from street.

Hotel rooms, external view.

Werft penthouse with private garden, alternate view.

02 Platte

Set within an original concrete structure that was once a local customs administration building, the Platte holds coworking and office spaces that host a range of companies, agencies and organizations with shared values and common goals.

Slow office within Platte.

Design detail, Platte interior.

Concrete interior with artwork by Tom Van Puyvelde.

Exterior of the Platte.

03 Ritualraum

Designed by Austrian architect and designer Monika Gogl, a subterranean ritual and performance space with a pyramidal thatched-reed roof pays homage to ancient temples across various cultures and traditions. A 360-degree integrated sound system by spatial sound pioneers 4DSOUND is built directly into the walls, enabling a dizzying variety of performance and practice, from mind-body rituals to experimental soundscapes. Two breakout rooms lead to a terrace hovering directly on the surface of the river.

Monika Gogl's design pays homage to ancient temples.

Aerial view of Ritualraum.

Organic materials include textured raw wood and stone.

04 Bootshaus

Two restaurants by celebrated Danish chef Frederik Brille Brahe sit within one of the site’s original structures. A casual daytime cafeteria on the ground floor serves as a social hub for the campus and wider neighborhood, while the second-floor restaurant serves multicourse, vegetable-forward cuisine. The structure’s original lifeguard tower is a late-night spot with a curated selection of rare craft sakes from Japan and Europe. An underground passageway leads from the Ritualraum to the Bootshaus.

Bootshaus, set within an original structure of the Baths.

Bootshaus alternate view.

Different culinary concepts are found on each floor.

About the Campus

A symbiotic landscape integrated into its verdant riverside surroundings, the Marina Project was designed to encourage collaborative ideation and creativity. As the headquarters of Slow, the ensemble of mixed-use spaces will host a diverse range of public and private events, artistic performances, exhibitions, mind-body practices and gatherings that might range in scope from an international idea festival to an intimate dinner.

OUR PEOPLE

Arno Brandlhuber

Architect

“At Marina you have a lot of history. There was a power plant and they needed water to cool down certain parts of the machinery. So what did they do? They made a public bath. So it's a kind of hospitality concept already how they installed it."

Monika Gogl

Architect and Designer

“The process of collaboration is very important to me, because I assume, in the sense of quantum physics, that everything vibrates and that all energies are stored in materials and spaces, and this is how I shape the rooms."

Serdar Kutucu

CEO, Slow

"The idea is to have a creative campus where everything has been designed to enable the new spirit of collaboration and creativity."

Frederik Brille Brahe

Chef

“We’re not trying to make a culinary destination. We’re making a cultural destination where you will feel at home and feel good about what you're eating. The idea is to create a relatable gastronomy for the people.“

Charly Wilder

Editor in Chief, Slow

“We're building a cultural site that channels what it is that makes Berlin great today: its diversity, its spirit of iconoclasm, freedom and creativity."

Jess Mcgowan

Art Director, Slow

"The contrast between concrete and riverside, past and future, history and experimentation, creates a really special atmosphere."

Lawrence Hazen

Creative Director, Slow

“We are just down the river from all of these former industrial complexes that are being readapted by some of the world's most pioneering artists. We want Marina to act as a hub for Berlin's maturing creative scene."

Alexandra M. Rüger

Project Manager

"We don't want to just build something. We want to create a space where you can get the body and mind in balance and feel like you're within the city but in this secret garden."

Tom Van Puyvelde

Interior Architect

“I wanted to look with painterly eyes and not with architectural eyes. My attitude was to maximize what is already there and not to just make something which has already been seen."

The History

The Marina Project occupies the site of the former Lichtenberg Municipal River Baths (Städtisches Flussbad Lichtenberg), a Weimar-era public bathing facility that once welcomed up to 10,000 visitors per day. Opened to much fanfare in May of 1927, the 50,000 square-meter plot on the Rummelsburger Bucht included four outdoor pools lined by wooden walkways, a diving tower, changing cabins and a sandy beach. Designed by pioneering architect and city planner Rudolf Gleye, the site was colloquially known as Freibad Klingenberg because of its proximity to the massive Klingenberg combined heat and power plant (today a natural gas plant run by Vattenfall). During the cooler season, the water in the warm pool was heated with runoff water from the neighboring power plant.

The river baths closed during the Second World War, then opened briefly after the war ended before shutting down for good in 1950. By that time, most urban riversides were too polluted to allow bathing, and nearly all of Europe’s many river baths had closed down. From the 1950s until German reunification, the site was home to the East German customs administration. Then it was left dormant. Nature took over, turning the former open-air swimming pool into an enchanted natural landscape, a perfect spot for illegal raves in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Studio Anselm Reyle, Images by Robert Rieger

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Today, the Rummelsburg area of Lichtenberg has been rediscovered by a new generation. Rummelsburg’s new creative landmarks include Funkhaus, an ambitious riverside music and performance complex housed in the former East Berlin broadcasting headquarters, and Studio Tomás Saraceno, a two-building former chemical factory facility that the Argentinian artist transformed into a fantastical studio for his interactive architectural installations and sculptures exploring clean energy, “cloud cities” and the habitats of spiders.

Further down the river are the studios of celebrated local artists Anselm Reyle, Jorinde Voigt and Alicja Kwade. Marina Marina architect Arno Brandlhuber is also building his own new headquarters nearby. Designated a development area in 1992, the roughly 320-acre Rummelsburger Bucht site is being planned in accordance with an “urban landscape” concept drawn up by architects Klaus Theo Brenner and Karl Thomanek.

Studio Anselm Reyle, Images by Robert Rieger