kinzo proposes 100-meter swimming lane through the heart of berlin

a 100-meter pool for potsdamer platz

Along the western edge of Potsdamer Platz, Berlin’s Tilla-Durieux-Park stretches for 485 meters as a long, tilted lawn between dense blocks. Kinzo Architekten proposes turning its central strip into a year-round recreational route led by a 15-by-100-meter outdoor pool. The basin runs almost like an urban canal, with lap lanes drawn down the axis and timber decks stepping along one side. A pink path traces the park’s edge and continues toward the sports areas farther south.

The idea begins with a familiar weakness in Potsdamer Platz, one of Europe’s best-known post-reunification planning projects and among its most debated. Its offices and tourist draws keep the district busy, though the public realm offers fewer reasons to stay. Tilla-Durieux-Park sits directly beside this activity, highly visible from surrounding towers yet sparsely used at ground level. Kinzo knows the setting through its placemaking concept for the ongoing renewal of the Center am Potsdamer Platz, formerly the Sony Center.

visualizations © Kinzo Architekten

from passing through to staying longer

The team at Kinzo describes the proposal as ‘proximity activation,’ a strategy built around regular use by people who already live or work nearby. The pool provides the main draw, while padel and basketball courts extend the park’s athletic program. Beach volleyball occupies a separate section near a calisthenics area. A water playground brings a smaller scale of movement into the plan, and a tree grove gathers visitors around a long communal table. Karim El-Ishmawi, co-founder of Kinzo, imagines the park as ‘the living room of Potsdamer Platz.’

The pool’s extreme length gives the scheme its strongest visual move. Swimmers cut a straight line through the site while the surrounding lawn remains open for sunbathing and informal use. On the western side, stepped timber seating rises beside the water with changing rooms tucked into heavier volumes. The proportions feel unusually generous for a central-city pool, yet they come directly from the park itself. Kinzo uses the site’s narrow geometry as the organizing idea instead of trying to disguise it.

Kinzo proposes a 100-meter outdoor pool along Tilla-Durieux-Park in central Berlin

swimming through a berlin winter

A translucent membrane canopy stretches over the pool during colder months, enclosing the water beneath a sequence of curved timber ribs. From inside, swimmers remain connected to snowy trees and surrounding facades, while the long enclosure glows across the park after dark. The structure gives the outdoor basin a second seasonal identity and keeps the pool usable through Berlin’s winter.

The winter renderings extend that idea into the tree meadow, where a Christmas market appears among snow-covered planting and the communal table remains in use. Farther along the lawn, the pool canopy becomes a warm tube within the pale landscape. These scenes shift the proposal beyond a summer amenity. Repeatable uses and weather protection give the park a rhythm that can continue beyond occasional programming.

the 485-meter lawn is set to run beside Potsdamer Platz between dense office and residential blocks

closing berlin’s green corridor

Beyond the immediate park, Kinzo also looks south toward the Landwehr Canal and Park am Gleisdreieck. A future pedestrian bridge would close a missing connection in Berlin’s north-south green corridor, linking Tilla-Durieux-Park into a larger route of public landscapes. The swimming and sports scheme is conceived as a standalone intervention, allowing it to move forward separately from that longer-term piece of infrastructure.

Kinzo’s proposal asks whether one bold civic amenity can change a place shaped by passing traffic. The 100-meter pool gives the lawn an unmistakable identity, while the smaller uses turn its full length into somewhere people can return to. The self-initiated scheme remains an invitation, with no official commission attached, but its central move is immediately legible. A long pool fills a long park, and an overlooked strip beside Potsdamer Platz begins to look like a destination.

a translucent membrane canopy encloses the pool during Berlin’s colder months

a tree grove gathers visitors around a long communal table

project info:

name: Tilla-Durieux-Park Activation

architect: Kinzo Architekten | @kinzoberlin

location: Tilla-Durieux-Park, Berlin, Germany

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