Draft:Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann

The Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann is a characteristic commercial building completed in 1997 on Berlin's Friedrichstrasse and Dorotheenstrasse in the Mitte district. It was named after its builder and first main user, the entrepreneur Peter Dussmann. Today, the building houses a media department store on five floors and various offices, including the headquarters of the Dussmann Group.

History

Until they were destroyed in the Second World War, there were rows of buildings in the Wilhelminian style on the site. In the late 1940s, all the war ruins were cleared away. At this point, individual residential buildings and a wasteland remained, which was largely left to itself for decades. After the fall of the Wall, the service company Dussmann had re-established itself in East Berlin and the management was looking for a location for a new office building. The new building in the center of Berlin was opened in 1997. The plan was to rent the lower floors to a bookseller or a fashion chain. However, no interested party was found, so the developer decided to use the sales floors himself. The building was named Dussmann-Haus, later, for advertising purposes, "Dussmann the Culture Department Store".

Initially, 4,700 m² were filled with a mix of media, with the classical department being the largest of its kind in Europe. In its first year, Dussmann had two million customers, made a turnover of 28 million DM and was unexpectedly close to breaking even early. In the meantime (as of the 2010s), books including audio books and sheet music, CDs, DVDs and other office supplies (called Papétrie) are offered in seven different departments on a sales area of ​​over 7,000 m² on five floors.

In June 2022, the Dussmann cultural department store celebrated its 25th anniversary as "Germany's largest media department store" with a major customer campaign. The department store's turnover in 2021 amounted to 30 million euros (2020: 25 million euros).

There are regular reading evenings, book signings and music events.

In 2004, the converted third floor, which had previously housed offices of the Dussmann Group, was opened to visitors. The special department for music in the side building of the Dussmann House was significantly expanded in 2008. In 2010, a concentrated offer of foreign language materials began. Management initially set up an English-language department in a side wing.

Building

The building complex was developed and built by the architects Miroslav Volf (Saarbrücken), Mario Campi and Franco Pessina (both Lugano). It was designed in a modern style with reference to the historical tradition of street-level development using modern building materials and arcades.

The office building has eight floors, of which the five lower floors are used for sales. The floors above serve as the headquarters of the German Dussmann Group. Other tenants include Vodafone, two restaurateurs, a coffeehouse operator and, since 2008, Care Germany. Strictly speaking, the KulturKaufhaus consists of several components - the striking arcade building on Friedrichstrasse, which extends to the edge of the road and whose facade recedes from the seventh floor, formally meeting the requirements of the Berlin eaves height - as well as historic sandstone facades of four floors on both sides to the east (in Dorotheenstrasse and Mittelstrasse). To the east, the multi-section building is completed by a modern component with delivery entrances.

The two lower shop areas are generously designed with a central aisle that is open at the top and into which daylight enters via a pyramid-shaped glass roof. Escalators also lead to the products and reading corners on the second floor. The media department store houses around 10.5 million products and over 800,000 cultural media from the areas of books, audio recordings, film, sheet music and design on five floors. There is also an "English & International Bookshop" for international literature and the "KulturManufaktur" where you can produce your own records and printed matter.

On a vertical wall next to the escalators there is a vertical garden, which was redesigned in 2012 by the French botanist Patrick Blanc. The green and irrigated tropical landscape is 270 square meters in size, consists of over 6,600 plants and is called the "vegetable wall" (Mur Végétal) by the artist. An original sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut (1475 BC), a permanent loan from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, in the entrance area is also an eye-catcher for visitors to the building. The light artwork Lunatique neoonly No. 8. (1999) by the French artist François Morellet is installed on a side wall. Carpeted floors, furniture made of light beech wood, leather-covered armchairs and modern styled lights complete the ambience.