Reethaus' gently imposing thatched roof hints at its context's wider approach; an artisan- and design-led, slowly crafted environment, drawing from the past but firmly reconfigured for the 21st century. The new cultural space, which opened recently in Berlin, is the first in a series of completions coming up in a new urban development for Berlin.
The architect behind it is Austrian Monika Gogl, who worked alongside Belgian interior designer Cédric Etienne on the building. Their design approach was more about textures, light and capturing the 'emotional power of stillness', they explain, than designing a traditional auditorium or art centre. The duo were inspired by a variety of influences – as far away as Japanese teahouses and the tea ceremony, and as close as the green nature of the Spree riverside around the site.
'Next year will be the big one for Flussbad,' said Sendlinger. 'We’re expecting the entire campus to open, welcoming gastronomy, health offerings, guest rooms and working lofts within an architectural ensemble by neo-brutalist master Arno Brandlhuber integrated into one of the greenest, vastest sections of Berlin’s riverside.