Hotel Wilmina by Grüntuch Ernst Architekten is the winner of the German Sustainability Award 2023. Find out why and who the finalists were here.
The German Sustainability Award (DNP) has been presented annually since 2008. For the tenth time, the prize has also been awarded to a sustainable construction project. In 2023, the Hotel Wilmina by Grüntuch Ernst Architekten won the German Sustainability Award. Find out why and who the finalists were here.
In the eyes of the jury, it is the most sustainable building project this year – the Hotel Wilmina in Berlin. Last Friday, the project by Grüntuch Ernst Architekten won the German Sustainability Award (DNP) in Düsseldorf against three other finalists:
- the Starnberg District Office by Auer Weber
- the integrated comprehensive school in Rinteln/Lower Saxony by bez+kock architekten
- Korbach town hall by agn/heimspiel architekten
The Hotel Wilmina is located in a Berlin building complex dating from 1896. Designed by architects Adolf Brückner and Eduard, the building housed an aldermen’s court in the front building, day cells in the side wing and a women’s prison in the rear building until 1985. The jury praised the firm’s approach of creating an inner-city resting place “with only a few structural interventions and maximum preservation of the substance”. The transformation of the former women’s prison “is an outstanding example of redensification in existing buildings with a minimal carbon footprint while simultaneously unsealing and renaturalizing areas”, according to the jury. Below we explain where this can be found in detail.
The hotel rooms
Hotel Wilmina aims to delight its guests with three main features. Firstly, there are the hotel interiors. The floor plan and window size have been changed, always taking into account the requirements of listed buildings. Plastered walls and brickwork are painted white, which contributes greatly to the friendly atmosphere in Hotel Wilmina. “The layers of time are present throughout the building without appearing overly museum-like or decorative,” said the jury of the German Sustainability Award for Architecture 2023, praising the way in which the existing building was treated.
The 18-metre-high atrium in particular is an example of the interplay between old and new. The high, white interior includes the pathways and entrances to the hotel rooms – through the original cell doors. Spherical pendant luminaires by Bocci lighten up the space across the entire height. The solid walls framing the doors, the white-painted steel girders and the white-painted brick wall only hint at the former cell wing. The jury described Grüntuch Ernst Architekten’s handling of the project as a “reprogramming of challenging architectural heritage”.
Inner courtyard and restaurant
The two other main features of the building complex are particularly noticeable in the inner courtyard of Hotel Wilmina – the red brick façade and the green garden. But you can also enjoy both – together with the excellent food – from the Lovis restaurant, which is housed in the former lock yard of the prison.
With the existing brick structure, the architects found the perfect basis for climate adaptation. This allowed the technical building equipment to be reduced to a minimum and a consistent low-tech approach to be pursued. Grüntuch Ernst Architekten also proceeded in the spirit of the German Sustainability Award with the extension. It was built using sustainable materials such as solid wood and metal and without composite building materials.
The jury not only highlighted the “enchanted garden”, but also the green flat roofs and largely preserved façade slopes. This means that around 30 percent of the building envelope is covered in greenery.
A little spoiler from the editorial team: we discuss Hotel Wilmina in more detail in our January issue. What’s special about it? We placed the architecture in a sustainable context even before it received the German Sustainability Award – in “B1 Umbauen”. You can read more about part three and our entire sustainability series “Weiterbauen” here.
