Altmarkt-Galerie Dresden
Dresden, Germany
Developer: ECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co. KG
Owners: Deutsche EuroShop AG and TLG Immobilien GmbH
Designers: ECE architects in cooperation with architects Manfred Schomers and Rainer Schürmann
Connecting the old town of Dresden, Germany, with the city’s traditional shopping street, Altmarkt-Galerie creates a meeting place and point of attraction for residents and tourists. Completed in 2012, the center comprises a sales area measuring 538,000 square feet (50,000 sq m) as well as a 200-room hotel, 86,000 square feet (8,000 sq m) of office space, and 200 shops on a site encompassing 1.4 million square feet (130,000 sq m). It is a model for implementation of a project on a historically protected and archaeologically valuable site and shows that successful business can be reconciled with strict building conservation regulations.
Reflecting the traditional layout of the city center and following historic routes and paths, the development was a catalyst for the revitalization of Dresden’s city center. It links the city’s historic heritage (Zwinger, the city castle, Semper Opera, Frauenkirche church) and Prager Straße (Prager Street), the traditional shopping venue. The project entailed close collaboration among developers, the local community, and local government. It has expanded shopping options in the city center—and encourages consumer foot traffic to remain in the city center—by creating small, attractive retail outlets that previously were not available in this format. Existing streets were integrated into the center, enabling visitors to experience the complex as a single entity, despite the fact that it is made up of three separate buildings.
