Project

René Benko - Berlin penthouse

Client

SIGNA Real Estate Management Germany GmbH

Services

Detailed Design, Tender Documents, Site Supervision

A luxury suite of the very highest class above the rooftops of the capital

Berlin Penthouse by René Benko

Maximum staging - and hardly any budget restrictions: we were able to live out this dream of every architect on the 33rd floor of the "Upper West" high-rise in Berlin. Here, investor René Benko had OOW build him a penthouse of the very highest class. Insights into a project that has few equals.

"Placing a five-tonne marble counter on the top floor of a high-rise is a daring idea."

Sebastian Blancke, Architect BDA, Founder of OOW

The story goes that a businessman, after visiting René Benko's penthouse, strongly advised against receiving anyone here. The luxury would not go down well with business partners and financiers - which, in hindsight, may well have been a shrewd observation.

Benko, the property investor who has since fallen far from grace, was inclined towards extremes - and, for his private penthouse, had a luxury suite of the very highest class built with practically no budget limits. This may have unsettled investors. For an architectural practice like OOW, by contrast, the work was full of possibilities: the interior design sets new standards in its precision and exclusivity and shows what is possible when Europe's finest trades, the highest-quality materials and technically perfect craftsmanship come together.

Across the 1,000 square metres, only the finest materials and construction methods were used: floating leather wall panels, round glass doors, a five-tonne marble counter, as well as washbasins and bathtubs milled from solid blocks of marble - all of which had to be installed on the 33rd floor, in the heart of central Berlin and with a view of the Ku'damm. The nine-metre-long dining table, over which a mirrored ceiling presides, was built using boatbuilding techniques. Its hull is made of American walnut, its top of Calacatta marble. Terrazzo with brass inlays alternates with burnished brass. And the iconic shell bed of American walnut in the master bedroom must be one of the most spectacular places to sleep in the city. The mattress, incidentally, is so heavy that changing the sheets takes several people.

This standard of perfection runs through all the rooms, with their spectacular view over the German capital - whether the expansive offices and conference rooms, the gym and spa, the three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, the kitchen and back-up kitchen, or the lobby.

"The high art of joining: leather wall panelling meets brass, terrazzo and marble. And almost everything is round. Every trade has to pull together for that. The result is workmanship of the very highest level."

Sebastian Blancke, Architect BDA, Founder of OOW

OOW was responsible for detailed design, tender and procurement, and site supervision (design stages 5-9). Three particular ways of working for which OOW is known were decisive on this exceptional project.

Complete visualisation in 3D

We modelled the entire storey in 3D down to minute details — eliminating surprises on site. Two examples show why this approach saves resources and raises quality. First, with the curved, leather-clad walls, we could calculate precise leather quantities and optimise the joint pattern to the maximum hide size — cows, after all, only grow so large. Second, the model mapped exactly how ceiling and floor joints would meet; from that we planned the installation so everything aligned perfectly on site, 33 floors up.

A fundamental advantage of this way of working - especially for the client: before construction begins, they can explore the rooms with the help of a virtual reality headset - and gain a precise sense of the light, the dimensions and the furniture. This delivers maximum predictability, optimal plannability and certainty. The hundreds of light points fitted in the lobby, too, were positioned according to digital templates from OOW.

Engineering, hidden in plain sight
Building services (TGA) is rarely a designer’s darling — duct dampers, fire shutters, sprinklers, cable schedules. We treat it differently. Rigorous planning pays off. In the Benko penthouse, systems were elevated to the highest technical standard while remaining invisible to preserve the design. Like opening the bonnet of a great engine: everything is ordered and exact. For us, the quality of a building’s TGA is a litmus test of how well the architecture is truly made. And when Kardorff’s hundreds of luminaires demanded an extraordinary volume of cabling, HHP’s fire-safety concept adapted accordingly — proof that immaculate engineering and code compliance can co-author beauty.

Benko's team of property specialists was so satisfied with OOW's work that the next commission followed straight away: a 65-million project was planned in Hamburg's premium Gänsemarkt location.

The team has to be right

We brought together the finest trades in Europe to get the very best out of every piece of furniture and every material. The terrazzo comes from Italy; the natural stone was worked in the Allgäu, by Lake Constance. The joinery comes from Brixen in South Tyrol. Together with design icon Hadi Teherani and interior specialist Sebastian Zenker, we were able to make a statement in terms of luxury, craftsmanship and architectural innovation.

Design – Hadi Tehrani

The penthouse design is by the renowned practice of Büro Hadi Tehrani.

Interior – Sebastian Zenker

With exquisite attention to detail, Sebastian Zenker’s team curated the rooms’ furnishings and lighting.

Building Services - Teuber + Viel

Once the ceiling is closed, no one sees it — but threading ductwork through tight, curved corridors is a geometric masterpiece by Teuber + Viel.

Acoustics — Wölfel

BASWA acoustic ceilings formed as elliptical domes — developed together with Wölfel.

Light Design - KARDORFF

Hundreds of individual luminaires in the lobby were planned by KARDORFF and placed into the gypsum-board forms according to our 3D layout. The sheer volume of cabling required an exception to HHP’s fire-safety concept!

Dry Lining - APLEONA

Nothing about this project was ‘standard’ — not even the drywalling. With setting-out templates crafted by Barth, Apleona placed every gypsum wall exactly where it needed to be, down to the millimetre. They delivered the lot: suspended ceilings, sculpted 3D plasterboard elements, site logistics, cleaning and disposal; then the finishing touches — painting, glass partitions, and more besides. Quite simply, without Apleona this scheme would not exist. They shouldered the work others sidestepped, from drywalling and floor layers to paint and the final builders’ clean.

Screed / Terrazzo — Freese Fussbodentechnik

White terrazzo with 20-millimetre brass inlays, impeccably laid by Freese Fussbodentechnik. The floor had to be installed very early in the sequence and then painstakingly protected.

Natural Stone & Terrazzo Finishing — Musch Fliesen und Natursteine

Musch Fliesen und Natursteine's team are rightly proud of the five-tonne marble bar.

Joinery / Fit-Out — barth

The shell bed may be the obvious showpiece, but barth's South Tyrolean specialists produced almost all visible wall linings, wardrobes and kitchens — execution derived from our 3D model and anchored in flawless shop drawings.