Lighting design Neuköllner Tor

An important part of the urban redevelopment in the Neukoelln-Suedring area is under the heading "Street as Space". Streets should be seen as recreational areas for all road users and redesigned accordingly. It is particularly important to improve the situation for pedestrians. The key project "Neukoellner Tor" at the Neukoelln S-Bahn and U-Bahn station also signaled the start of urban redevelopment in this area with a light installation.

The S-Bahn and U-Bahn station is an important interface beyond Neukoelln: It is the transfer point and entrance area to the main center of Karl-Marx-Strasse, the north of Neukoelln and at the same time Berlin’s city center. However, the area under the railway bridges was very dark and unattractive to pedestrians and cyclists.

The historical bridge architecture is now highlighted by an installation. It forms an attractive eye-catcher  at the entrance to Karl-Marx-Strasse. Between the bridge’s gray iron pillars, 75 fluorescent lamps illuminate green glass plates on which the bark structure of Neukoelln street trees is reproduced. They are supplemented by city names such as Ems or Zaandam, which can be found in the district’s street signs. Spotlights embedded in the bridge ceiling and in the floor also illuminate the scenery. Portholes in the glass panes provide a clear view of the inside of the historical bridge construction. The new light installation was inaugurated on June 20, 2008.

In the course of the redevelopment of the southern Karl-Marx-Strasse – also with funding from the urban redevelopment program – the middle island in front of Neukoelln S-Bahn and U-Bahn station was also upgraded at the end of 2011. Access to the S-Bahn lift system is located here. The light installation on the underpass was expanded with a backlit glass railing on the central island. It puts the entrance more in the field of vision and subjectively offers pedestrians a protective space. The Neukoellner Tor has transformed from an uncomfortable space into an eye-catcher that glows in the dark. In 2009 it received an award from the the Federal Minister at that time, Wolfgang Tiefensee, as part of the national competition “Building a city. Living a City”.