Sony Center, Berlin travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

The Sony Centre, at the heart of new Berlin, was designed by Helmut Jahn – a master of glass and steel architecture.Once the site was originally a bustling city centre in the early 20th century. Most of the buildings were destroyed or damaged during World War II. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the square became attractive location which had suddenly become available in the centre of a major European capital city. As part of a redevelopment effort for the area, the center was constructed. Consequently Sony sold Berlin’s Sony Center for less than €600M to a group of German and US investment funds.

Sony Center contains a mix of shops, restaurants, a conference centre, hotel rooms, luxurious rented suites and condominiums, offices, art and film museums, cinemas, an IMAX theater, a small version of Legoland, and a “Sony Style” store. Free Wi-Fi connections are available for all visitors. During major sport event like the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the centre also had a large television screen on which the games were broadcast to viewers sitting in the large open area in the middle.

The Sony Centre is at the same time public and private, bounded and unbound, sheltered but not enclosed. Its location near the Berlin Potsdamer Platz railway station gives easy walking accessibility. A large shopping centre is nearby, as is a whole bunch of hotels, the Deutsche Bahn central offices, and an office building featuring the fastest lift in Europe.