First Phase of OMA's KaDeWe Renovation Opens in Berlin

OMA's project to renovate KaDeWe was unveiled in January 2016, with a masterplan that divided the iconic store into four quadrants, each one given a distinct circulation core that would improve circulation in the building. Our coverage at the time of unveiling was highlighted by a rendering of an escalator core, with each escalator rotating a few degrees relative to the one below it and each circular opening growing progressively larger. That quadrant, it appears, is the first to reach completion. 

"Rather than treating the existing building as a singular mass," OMA said in a statement, "the project introduces four quadrants which fragment the original mass into smaller, easily accessible and navigable sectors. With this project, OMA and KaDeWe address the accelerating shifts in consumer behavior and the challenges brought by online retail that are affecting the traditional department store."

Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon are the lead OMA partners on the project. Van Loon, who is also undertaking the design of a new store for KaDeWe in Vienna, said in a statement: "The renovation of the KaDeWe aims to redefine the dynamics between retail space, its patrons, and the urban environment, in a time when e-commerce is reshaping our relation with in-person shopping. The project reinterprets the fundamental elements of a typology that has remained virtually unchanged for more than 100 years."