Room of Silence, BER Airport

Amidst the hustle and bustle of BER Airport lies an oasis of calm. This space of silence invites people of different religions and cultures to pray and reflect. Anyone who passes through the door to the refuge will find themselves in a different world.

Embedded in the terminal building of Berlin Brandenburg Airport is a space that is accessible to all and offers an opportunity for devotion and contemplation. Actually, it is not just a room. Rather, silence reigns in the juxtaposition of a Christian and a non-denominational space. In this way, the retreat appeals to people of different cultures and religions. In the past, a chapel alone would have offered such a place. But those days are over. Nevertheless, the Room of Silence is a kind of archaic cult space located deep inside a high-tech building. Anyone who passes through the door to this refuge enters another world.

In an anonymous competition, the jury was won over bythe concept of the large office of Gerkan, Marg and Partners from Hamburg. The architects envisioned two retreats for BER Airport: a Christian chapel and a room of silence. Both function as equal devotional spaces and appeal equally to people from all cultures and religions. The complex comprises a total of five rooms. In addition to the two prayer rooms, the ensemble also includes two anterooms located in front of the prayer rooms. These in turn are accessible via a third central entrance room.

Photos: Marcus Bredt

At an airport, you are perhaps closer to heaven than at almost any other place. It could therefore radiate confidence and a sense of security. But not everyone feels this. Rather, an airport is also a place of borderline experiences and fears, of extreme emotions and restlessness. Here, streams of traffic pulsate, information and sounds flood in and spread hecticness and nervousness. Here, people say goodbye disproportionately often and the paths of many people lead into the unknown. The Room of Silence at BER Airport counters these feelings and thoughts. It offers all those interested a place of seclusion with the opportunity to pause for a moment.

Photos: Marcus Bredt

Brick dominates the interior of the oasis of peace. The walls, floors and stepped vaulted ceilings of the prayer rooms are made of fired bricks. This material, with its simple and geometric shape, has an archaic feel. The architects associate this with the origins of mankind and the local building tradition of old places of worship in Berlin and Brandenburg. Stepped vaulted ceilings with backlit joints span the differently sized, square floor plans of the five rooms, creating a contemplative atmosphere. The end of each vault is formed by an indirectly illuminated oculus window, which symbolically opens the Room of Silence upwards.

Two rooms of silence for BER Airport

One prayer room is furnished like a Christian chapel. It has an altar and seating for ten to 15 people, as well as a simple bronze lectern and an altar with a bronze plate. The Christian cross is cut into the wall as a recess and is indirectly illuminated from behind. The neighboring second room of worship is only decorated with a bronze floor plate showing the world circle with a compass rose. This shows non-Christian worshippers in the Room of Silence the direction to Mecca or Jerusalem.

A candle burns in a niche in the small, square reception room. Above it, an inscription cast in ore spells out the word silence in six different languages. This first call to silence leads to the devotional rooms on both sides of the adjacent foyers. A barely visible bronze cross hangs in the one on the left and the other is adorned with a square in the circle of the world. Both point the way to the adjoining prayer room.

The design of the prayer rooms and the associated anterooms has been reduced to the utmost. This simplification avoids any distraction. It creates a stoic atmosphere and radiates great calm. This is in stark contrast to the pulsating life of the airport. Perhaps the architects not only wanted to create a distraction-free space, but also to create a reference to early Christian and oriental spatial creations. Or perhaps they just wanted to evoke memories of safe times in early childhood or in candlelit church services. At least the architecture here has done everything it can to escape the hustle and bustle of the airport. The rest is up to the individual.

The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners have designed a temporary concert hall in Munich. Find out what surprises the “Isarphilharmonie” concert hall has in store for you here.