Sony Center, Potsdamer Platz
Two huge stairwell spanning six floors

Winter Garden looks out on the Berliner Philharmoniker
Photo by Aoki Tsukasa
Winter Garden looks out on the Berliner Philharmoniker
Facing the Philharmoniesaal is a big stairwell space which penetrates six floor levels from the ground floor of the the Sony European Headquarters. Its dimensions are colossal; 22 meters high and 65 wide. It has a distinct shape: a slanting facade.
The facade is supported by DPG with horizontal glass-fin mullions, which are suspended by stainless steel rods and supported by bowstring tension wires. The glass panes adopted on the outer facade are of tempered glass thickness: 19mm for the lower part, 15mm for the upper part), horizontal glass fins are made of triple-laminated glass, resulting in a total thickness of 20-24mm. The glasses used for the inner facade are Low-E double-glazing, which are supported by vertical mullions of glass fin. On the bottom of the outer facade, there are ventilation windows, which open in the event of a fire.

Winter Garden looks out on Tiergarten
The Sony Headquarters facing Tiergarten is also provided with yet another huge stairwell, which reaches the sixth floor, and then to the rooftop. The facade in this, made of 15-19mm thick enforced glass is supported by DPG with bowstring wires. At the end of the wire, there are large springs, which keep the wires tense.
This Atrium is covered with glass top light with dark, print-tempered ceramics. The Top Light is supported by glass fins, which in turn are supported by the bowstring truss. Glasses on the inner facade (and all the rooms facing the Atrium) use Low-E double glazing.

Facade with high heat insulation
The glass panes used in the fa_ade of this building are, like those of the Tower; i.e., Low-E double-glazed with Krypton gas filling and laminated. The structure and performance are basically the same as that of the Tower. Even though the entire surface of the facade is glazed, it nonetheless achieves efficient insulation against heat.

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