club marginal's renovation preserves the layers of time on historic office building in germany

O&K Moeckenstrasse office building restored by Club Marginal

Club Marginal Architekten takes over the conversion and refurbishment of a historic office building located on the edge of Kreuzberg, Germany. The edifice hosts the former headquarters of Ohrenstein und Koppel, O&K, a mechanical engineering company founded in 1876 by Benno Orenstein and Artur Koppel in Schlachtensee near Berlin.

Known for the production of light railway equipment and tipper trucks, railways, construction machinery, escalators, and ships, the industrial company moves the headquarters on Tempelhofer Ufer and the administrative building at Möckernstraße 120, which is now a listed building, dates from this period of economic prosperity. Built in 1909-1910 according to the plans of the Berlin architectural firm Cremer & Wolffenstein, the construction, in contrast to the classically structured facades, is clad with tuff towards the street and glazed clinker in the courtyard. Instead of a massive central wall, only two continuous iron columns support the ceilings of the front building. This forms one large contiguous room per floor, which is still characteristic of the building’s spatial structure today.

listed facade Moeckernstrasse 120 | all images by Waldemar Salesski

the plan follows extensive renovation and conversion measures

The design team at Club Marginal aims to preserve and leave visible both the original charm and the layers of time in the building’s form through a series of extensive renovation and conversion measures. A contemporary utilization concept is developed by combining flexibly divisible office and exhibition space. The existing courtyard ceiling is demolished and the entire basement is lowered by means of underpinning using the jet grouting method so that the newly created rooms have sufficient room height. Additional usable space is thus created on the property, which stands originally already fully developed. A newly added extension in the courtyard, with its smooth facade of exposed concrete, contrasts with the historic wall surfaces of the existing building and zones the inner courtyard on two different levels, which are now connected by a bright steel staircase. The underground car park is accessed via a newly installed car lift, whose retractable gate has been inconspicuously integrated into the listed facade.

hidden car lift behind the facade

heavy architectural bronze is applied TO the historic structure

In the rear part of the building, an additional escape staircase is built for fire protection reasons. A passenger lift is added to the existing historic staircase, which now makes the entire building accessible for people with disabilities. Heavy architectural bronze covers both the lift and the entrance doors to the individual floors. The classic material’s application intends to associate continuity and the continuation of the building’s history and is also used in other parts of the building. The project attends to the rebuilding of the basement staircase, through the modeling of a wrought-iron banister on the historic structure. In addition to the entire building technology and all floors, windows, and doors are also renewed, in part closely based on the historical model. Patina and traces of the past on wall and ceiling surfaces are deliberately preserved or carefully added.

lift door bronze with artwork

historic staircase with traces of time

entrance Moeckernstrasse 120

main room front building

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office unit and historical steel column

WC-box with customised concrete washbasin

tea-kitchen area

inner courtyard with extension made of insulated concrete and roof terrace

project info:

name: O&K Moeckenstrasse – Conversion and refurbishment of a historic office building in Kreuzberg
designer: Club Marginal Architekten | @_clubmarginal_

location: Kreuzberg, Germany

photography: Waldemar Salesski | @salesski

video: Martin König