Our first stop is the area of East Haven or "Osthafen" as it is called in Germany's capital. This former dock area, unlike its Westhafen brother, never had a closed water area but was in fact a giant moor that stretched for a kilometer and a half down the river along which warehouses and grain depots still stand. It was these particular buildings that the city decided to breathe a new life into back in the 2000's by initiating here a creation of cultural and media cluster that got a self-explanatory name of Media-Spree. A contest for the best master plan was organized - and nps tchoban voss won it in 2003.

"Our proposal was, first of all, about keeping the scale of the houses that were there before us - Sergey Tchoban explains - Specifically, the size and other parameters of the blocks newly built on this embankment are in exact correspondence with the neighboring historical buildings, while the spaces between these buildings allow the people that live on the "second line" to see the river". After the master plan got the approval, nps tchoban voss got several construction sites on the territory of Osthafen to build upon. 

The bureau's first project here was NHow Hotel. Launched into operation in 2011, it collected a host of professional awards and won a reputation of one of the most famous modern buildings in this part of Berlin. The complex consists in fact of two seven-story buildings turned to the river, with plans looking like "L" and double "L", and connected by a transparent overpass. The common basement floor is also fully glazed, while higher up the buildings are coated with Flemish brick, the architects using bricks of varying thickness which gives extra texture to the facades. The dynamic composition of this volume is also supported by the square windows that are placed over the facades in an ostentatiously asymmetric way. The main "icon" of the hotel, however, is the buildup protruding cool 21 meters beyond its base. Coated with metal, this cantilever, according to the architect's idea, is meant to bear a resemblance to a ship building crane, paying homage to the "port" origin of the building. What is remarkable is the fact that it's side facades are clad into opaque steel with that recognizable dull shine that is so characteristic of the heavy machinery, while the "land" is met by a polished mirror surface that reflects the roof of the stylobate and the buildings as well, and thus makes the whole structure look as if it hovers above the main volume - a technique that many of us saw in the Russian pavilion at "EXPO-2015" in Milan.