Border and Museum Harbor

Between Memory,
the Present,
and Public Life

The design by &MICA develops an urban ensemble that inter­weaves memorial, museum, and public platform into a contem­porary archi­tecture on the water. At its center lies the historic border jetty, a silent remnant of division, preserved in its original state. Alongside it, a new jetty is intro­duced, framing, accom­panying, and inten­si­fying its presence. Together with the museum and a public platform, a network of spaces emerges that makes memory tangible without excluding everyday use. History is not frozen in a museo­lo­gical setting, but kept alive as part of the city’s social fabric.

The new jetty hovers just above the water, light, restrained, and always positioned below the original structure. A gridded floor allows views down to the Spree, while solid side walls direct the gaze, fostering focus and intensity. Embedded fragments in the floor and railings, quota­tions, biogra­phies, voices tell stories of fate, escape, and loss. Walking along the jetty becomes a physical experience of history, step by step. At the site of the former watch­tower, a viewing point rises, trans­forming a place of control into one of openness and reflection.

The museum marks the interface between remem­brance and public life. A clear archi­tec­tural volume is wrapped in a light, movable façade made of boat ropes, animated by wind and light, an echo of water, vessels, and currents. Behind it lies a flexible structure, alter­nating between openness and enclosure, adaptable to exhibi­tions, workshops, and events.

Access is provided via the walkable roof, itself part of the visitor route: a place for views, infor­mation, and encounters in the open air. At platform level, the building opens toward the water with a café and leisure areas. The museum thus becomes not only a space of reflection, but part of an urban archi­tecture that actively shapes public space and invites the city’s inhabi­tants to engage.

Construction: Designed for Perma­nence and Change

The platform spans appro­xi­m­ately 2,430 m² and rests on a pile foundation of steel tubes, designed to be rever­sible and allowing for dismantling in accordance with cradle-to-cradle principles. A struc­tural grid of bolted steel beams supports a non-slip timber deck that is both robust and easily demoun­table.

The museum itself is conceived as a steel skeletal structure, aligned with the grid of the platform. The boathouse is designed as a pure timber structure, warm, simple, and clear. The jetties follow the same logic as the platform: floating construc­tions of steel on steel piles, surfaced with fire-resistant grating.

In this way, the museum harbor becomes an example of sustainable construction and innovative archi­tecture in Berlin, an ensemble that carries memory while thinking forward.

Integration into the Urban Context

The Berlin Border and Museum Harbor is not conceived as an isolated object, but as part of a broader urban archi­tecture embedded in a network of paths of remem­brance. A new bridge extends Eichen­straße across the water, leading directly onto the museum roof and anchoring the site within the city. From here, a route unfolds along the former course of the Wall, passing the Schle­si­scher Busch watch­tower, remnants of the Berlin Wall, and finally reaching the site. Infor­mation points at locations such as Oberbaum Bridge, the East Side Gallery, and Treptower Park embed the project within Berlin’s collective memory.

The Border and Museum Harbor thus becomes part of a larger narrative, not closed, but open. A place where the past remains present and where the city continues to question and reinterpret its history.