The Ferris wheel from the former amusement park was artistically transformed in a collaboration between realities:united and the engineering firm schlaich bergermann partner. In the new Spreepark, it takes on a dual character: it is both a ride and a work of art.

Using components of the former Ferris wheel, not only was the new Ferris wheel Übrigens (By the Way) constructed on its historic site, but a second installation was also created. This installation, entitled Neuerdings (Recently), is an almost 30‑metre‑tall sculpture made from four of the eight main supports of the former Ferris wheel. In the future, it will stand at a distance from the ride as an autonomous figure in front of the park’s western entrance.

The relationship between the sculpture Neuerdings and the artistically transformed Ferris wheel is immediately evident through the reuse of the distinctive steel supports in both installations. The “runaway” supports, which are now missing from the Ferris wheel, are replaced by a bold tension‑cable structure, giving the wheel the appearance of floating. With its new round gondolas—whose design references an even earlier Ferris wheel construction from 1969—the new Ferris wheel combines aspects of the old and the new park within a single structure.
 

“The landmark of the former Spreepark becomes a symbol that unites all of its contradictions: on the one hand an image of rupture, incompleteness, loss, and transience; on the other, one of restoration, lightness, boldness, dynamism, and strength. The runaway legs are a sign of rebellion and independence. A balancing act between opposites, times, and places.”

realities:united

Beneath the rebuilt Ferris wheel, the landscape has shifted: the wheel balances between times. The new water basin becomes the center of the park and, as a reservoir, supplies the surrounding landscape. Rising above it, the wheel stands with its feet in the dried‑out, fractured concrete base of the former water basin—a ruinous landscape that will, over the long term, be left to decay and to be reclaimed by nature.

In the interplay between the Ferris wheel, the water basin, and the sculpture Neuerdings, realities:united creates a fusion of old and new, past and future.
 

Project team

Idea and Concept realities:united with schlaich bergermann partner
Design Concept Jan Edler, Tim Edler, Christopher Gramer
Technical Concept Boris Reyher, Thomas Fackler, Anne Burghartz, Thomas Keck, Enis Alite
Implementation Dutch Wheels (Ferris wheel), Ingenieurbüro Kraft (water basin)

Project team Grün Berlin
Artistic Direction Katja Aßmann
Overall Project Management Spreepark Melanie Huland
Project Management Julia Badaljan, Nadia Sreiss