Berlin’s old airport is becoming a new eco-neighbourhood

Since Berlin’s Tegel airport stopped flying planes back in 2020, it’s been used for many, many things, from a mini-golf course to a centre for housing refugees. But now the old airport is going to find a spectacular permanent purpose as a futuristic residential community and research hub.

The redevelopment project is called Tegel Projekt and one of the most impressive bits of the renovation is the development of an enormous 10,000-person, 5,000-apartment residential community. Called the Schumacher Quartier, it’ll eventually feature parks, schools, shops and playgrounds – all with the backdrop of Tegel’s famous main building and air traffic control tower. 

With wide bike lanes and easy access to public transit, Tegel’s new community is designed to put pedestrians before cars and be entirely walkable and cyclable. The developers are also tapping into cutting-edge construction techniques (tied to the development of a nearby research hub) to make Tegel’s facelift carbon-neutral. 

Excitingly, should its green credentials prove legit, the Schumacher Quartier might be a blueprint for how cities around the world can take vast abandoned spaces and give them a green new lease of life. And besides its benefits for the community and environment, the designs also look rather marvellous. Here are a few renders of the project. 

Other bits of Tegel are set to be transformed into an industrial park and research area called ‘The Urban Tech Republic’. Featuring 1,000 businesses of various sizes, this bit will boast a campus for Berliner Hochschule für Technik University and itself be a working example of more environmentally-friendly construction.

The first bits of both the Schumacher Quartier and the Urban Tech Republic are set to be completed by 2027, with the entire thing due for completion by the mid-2030s. As it stands, Tegel remains open to tours, which you can find out more about on the official tour website.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Tegel Projekt, details are available here.

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