Frigid December or not, Berlinās infrastructure needs no warm-up act. From the Brandenburg Gate to the glass-roofed Hauptbahnhof, the city boasts a set of landmarks that showcase its resilience, reinvention, and engineering flair. And if youāre not seeing them in person, our interactive 3D tour powered by Cesium is the next best thing.Ā It willĀ help you immerse yourself inĀ a city-scale experienceĀ ofĀ Berlin.
Soar past the East Germanāera TV Tower, slip through the urban canyons of a revitalized Potsdamer Platz, and watch old and new Berlin dovetail at the Reichstag. Weāre publishing this guide ahead of the Bentley Tech Summit 2025, which is taking place in the German capital from Dec. 9-11.
Berlin isnāt just the backdrop for Bentleyās largest in-person training summit. The city is a live training ground for smarter infrastructure, where digital twins, advanced modeling, and modern energy systems are already reshaping districts and transport networks. Siemensstadt Square is a clear example, and itās your first stop before branching out to iconic towers, victory columns, memorials, and border crossings that tell the rest of Berlinās story.
Click the globe to try the visualization yourself.
1. Siemensstadt SquareāÆ
Siemensstadt Square is where Berlinās electropolis past plugs into its digital twin future. Itās also where German tech company Siemens, with Bentleyās help, is effectively building a city district twiceāfirst in a shared 3D model, then in bricks, steel, and streets. On more than 70 hectares of former factory land, historic industrial fabric and UNESCO-listed modernist housing are being rewoven into labs, offices, and homes for around 35,000 people, including social housing with COā-neutral operation as the goal. A district-scale digital twin will let teams simulate roads, utilities, and buildings before construction and later monitor energy, water, and maintenance in operation. The project is turning Siemensstadt Square into a living lab for climate-ready, data-driven urban infrastructure.
2. The Reichstag
The Reichstag is Berlinās ultimate retrofit story: a 19th-century parliament shell re-engineered into a transparent, low–carbon hub at the heart of the federal government quarter. Inside the historic stone walls, a lightweight steel and concrete frame supportsĀ the iconic glass dome, designed by star architect Norman Foster, where twin ramps spiral around a mirrored cone that channels daylight into the debating chamber and helps exhaust warm air. Beneath the complex, a biofuel–fired heat and power plant works with underground aquifer thermal storage, forming part of a shared energy system that also supplies neighboring government buildings. Visitors strolling throughĀ the dome enjoy panoramic views of Berlinās skyline while walking above aĀ sophisticated piece of infrastructure.
Aerial view of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany.3. Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz is where Berlin rebuilt a post-war wasteland, one carved out of the city by the Berlin Wall and frozen in place by the Cold War, into a dense, engineered new city center. After reunification, this no-manās-land became Europeās largest building site, with 19 buildings, 10 streets, and two squares constructed under one integrated masterplan. Beneath the plazas, a stack of underground levels handles parking, water management, and building services, while overground and underground trains intersect in the station below. At street level, architect Renzo Pianoās red-brick offices and housing blocks sit alongside Helmut Jahnās Center Potsdamer Platz, its tensile glass roof creating a moderated microclimate over the plaza. Together, they form the heart of a high-density district planned for energy efficiency, light, and services. A replica of Europeās first traffic light nods to Berlinās long-standing role as a proving ground for new ideas in urban mobility.
4. Berlin Central StationāÆ
Berlin Hauptbahnhof is where the cityās railways go vertical by stacking long-distance, regional, and local S-Bahn lines across multiple levels. The lines directly link to the cityās U-Bahn underground subway system in a five-level glass canyon alongside the river Spree and the government quarter. Opened in 2006, the station reorganized Berlinās post-reunification rail network into a northāsouth, eastāwest cross that connects major European routes through a single dynamic hub. Above the tracks, a lattice of steel and thousands of bespoke glass panels, with integrated solar panels, forms a vaulted shell that floods platforms and concourses with daylight. Trams, buses, bikes, and shops cluster around the station, turning this āglass armadilloā into a 24/7 civic engine, where engineering spectacle and everyday commuting meet.āÆ
5. SiegessƤule
Berlinās SiegessƤule was originally erected in the 1870s as a war memorial in front of the Reichstag. Starting in 1938, it was dismantled and relocated 1.5 kilometers west to the GroĆer Stern, where it was extended in height and set on a new base. The 67-meter column has therefore been structurally engineered twice, including the current foundations that hold its 8-meter, 35-tonne āGoldelseā statue steady in Berlinās winds. Today, it is the monumental center of the multiarm GroĆer Stern roundabout in the middle of the Tiergarten, Berlinās famed urban park, and acts as a powerful wayfinding landmark. Pedestrian tunnels safely feed visitors under fast traffic into the monumentās base, where a tight spiral staircase climbs to a viewing platform about 50 meters above ground that offers a 360-degree view of Berlinās eastāwest axis, green canopy, and the government quarter.Ā
Aerial view of Berlin’s SiegessƤule (Victory Column).6. Schloss Bellevue
The Schloss Bellevue palace sits between the Tiergarten, the river Spree, and Berlinās government quarter. This 18th-century structure now functions as a subtly strategic node in the cityās political and green infrastructure. Built in the 1780s as Berlinās first major neoclassical residence, the palaceās robust masonry shell survived war damage and was reinvented as the Federal Presidentās official home. The surrounding 20-hectare park works as a security buffer, riverside microclimate, and event platform that regularly hosts large civic and environmental gatherings.āÆ
7. Museums Island
Perched on a sliver of island in the Spree, Museumsinsel is Berlinās cultural acropolis and a live engineering lab all in one. Five world-class museums sit on complex ground where the stable, load-bearing strata range in depth from about 3 to 40 meters, which means every restoration, tunnel, and basement must be engineered with surgical precision. Beneath the neoclassical colonnades, the underground Museumsinsel station brings in metro passengers under a vaulted āstarry skyā ceiling, and engineers have begun threading an underground āarchaeological promenadeā to link four museums at basement level. The connection will fully open when the long-running Museum Island renovations are complete.Ā
8. Brandenburg Airport BER
This is the comeback story of German infrastructure: a nearly complete āghost airportā that stood idle for years amid design, coordination, and regulatory challenges before finally opening in 2020 as the regionās main air hub. Beneath its glass-and-steel Terminal, a 3.1-kilometre rail tunnel and multi-level station bring long-distance, regional, and S-Bahn services directly into the terminal complex, turning arrivals into a straightforward train hop into Berlin and beyond. The airport has become a testbed for solar-covered parking, LED retrofits, and apron and turnaround management systems assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) that aim to increase efficiency, cut emissions, and fine-tune performance in near real time.Ā
9. Berlin TV Tower, AlexanderplatzāÆ
Taller than the Eiffel Tower and rising 368 meters above the Alexanderplatz public square, Berlinās TV Tower is both the cityās tallest structure and its most conspicuous piece of communications infrastructure, still broadcasting radio and TV across the capital. Built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) between 1965 and 1969, its tapering concrete shaft, hyperbolic base, and stainless steel sphere were engineered with climbing formwork. It’s relatively shallow but robust ring foundation anchors the revolving restaurant, observation deck, and transmission plant in the sky. On sunny days, the geometry and paneling of the sphere reflect sunlight as a bright cross that can be seen across the city. Because the avowedly secular GDR suppressed religious practices and institutions, West Berliners jokingly dubbed this stubborn Christian symbol on a socialist showpiece āThe Popeās Revenge.ā
10. Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie looks like a small hut in the middle of Friedrichstrasse, but for three decades this crossroads was one of the most tightly controlled choke points on the planet. It was the third Allied border crossing in Berlin, and “Charlieā refers to C, the third letter in theāÆNATO phonetic alphabet.Ā From 1961 to 1990, multilane inspection sheds, barriers, watchtowers, and lighting systems turned an ordinary junction into a calibrated border crossing machine for cars, buses, foreign visitors, and Allied diplomats, while escape attempts probed every weakness. Today, the replica guardhouse, cobblestone strip marking the Berlin Wall, and open-air exhibits sit in a normal mixed-use streetscape, folded back into Berlinās everyday traffic, shops, and tour groups.
11. The Berlin Wall Memorial
Along Bernauer Strasse that once cleaved East and West Berlin, the Berlin Wall Memorial turns a former ādeath stripā into one of Berlinās most revealing pieces of linear infrastructure. With the memorial over 1.4 kilometers long, you can study the last remaining stretch of the East-West border in its full cross-sectionāouter and inner walls, patrol track, watchtower, and no-manās-landāalmost like a three-dimensional engineering drawing left in place. Landscape designers used Corten steel bands to trace lost faƧades and escape tunnels, while the rammed-earth Chapel of Reconciliation embeds fragments of the demolished church in its walls. Redesigned between 2008 and 2014, this 4.4-hectare corridor now doubles as a walking pathāa green space where a hard barrier once stood.
Aerial view of the Berlin Wall Memorial, showing preserved wall sections, nearby buildings, green spaces, and informational displays in an urban park setting.12. The Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is Berlinās hardest-workingĀ piece of heritage infrastructure. ThisĀ 230–year–old gatewayĀ anchorsĀ Berlinās mainĀ East–West axis. Its 26–meter–high sandstone colonnadeĀ managed carts and customsĀ withĀ itsĀ 12 Doric columns forming five passageways,Ā onceĀ part of the old city wall. ItĀ hasĀ sinceĀ had its stone fabric cleaned by lasers and its ageingĀ frameĀ stabilizedĀ so it can live with constant crowds and the stresses of major public events all around it. Today,Ā motor traffic is kept to the surrounding streets, while Pariser Platz underneath itĀ isĀ largely calmed. The gate itself acts as a pedestrian filterĀ andĀ wayfinding beacon. It also serves asĀ a canvas for large-scale light shows and Earth Hour illuminationĀ switchĀ offsĀ to raiseĀ awareness about climate change and environmental protection. For engineers, it is less a static monument and more aĀ long–running upgrade project disguised as a classical temple.
13. The Holocaust Memorial
A short walk from the Brandenburg Gate is The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Germanyās central monument remembering theĀ 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The memorial isĀ a somber field of 2,710 unmarked concrete steles separated by narrow passageways thatĀ slowly rise from Berlinās street grid and swallow visitors withinĀ anĀ undulating,Ā disorienting maze. āToday,Ā an individual can no longer be sure of dying an individual death, and architecture can no longer be reminiscent of life as before,ā writes Peter Eisenman, who designed the memorial.Ā āThe markings that used to be symbols of an individual death now need to be changed, and this has a significant impact on the idea of memory and the memorial.ā Says Eisenman: āIn our monument there is no goal, no end, no way in or out. The time of the experience of the individual does not grant further understanding, because understanding is not possible.ā
14. Cecilienhof
Cecilienhof isĀ theĀ Tudor-style wildcard inĀ theĀ palace landscapeĀ in and aroundĀ Berlin.Ā Nestled inĀ theĀ neighboringĀ city ofĀ Potsdam,Ā Cecilienhof isĀ anĀ English country houseĀ scaled up for royalty and completed in 1917 amid the turmoil of World War I, then pushed into the diplomatic spotlight three decades later at the close of World War II. Behind its half-timbered faƧades sit 176 rooms arranged around five interlocking courtyards, a modular layout that in 1945 accommodated the Potsdam Conference, where Stalin, Truman, and Churchill (later Attlee) met to decide how to manage a defeated Germany and shape Europeās post-war order. Border fences and Berlin Wall infrastructure later cut through the surrounding New Garden until reunification. Today, major refurbishments and new visitor infrastructure are turning Cecilienhof into a diplomatic time capsule.
15. Sanssouci Palace
SanssouciĀ isnātĀ just Frederick the Greatās Rococo daydreamāit is a hillside palace pinned into place by some of the most sophisticated landscape engineering in Europe. Its six south-facing vineyard terraces act as a climate machine, with brick retaining walls and 132 steps stabilizing the slope, and 168 glazed niches in those walls serving as tiny greenhouses for figs and vines. Below is a 19th-century pump house famously disguised as a Turkish mosqueāwith a minaret-style chimneyāthat once used a steam engine to blast the Great Fountainās water jet 40Ā meters into the air. Today, the wider 500-hectare UNESCO palaces-and-parks landscape is grappling with drought and climate-stressed trees, while new eco-workshops and nurseries support its upkeep, turning the location into a live laboratory for resilient heritage management.
Aerial 3D view of Schloss Sanssouci and surrounding gardens in Potsdam, Germany, with park grounds, pathways, and adjacent buildings visible. Informational text box shown on the left.16. Olympic Stadium
Berlinās Olympic Stadium is a 1936 showpiece commissioned by the Nazi regime, surgically re-engineered into a 74,000āseat, 21st-century venue without shedding its monumental stone shell. Set in a shallow bowl in Westend, it was stripped back and rebuilt between 2000 and 2004. Engineers lowered the pitch, reāangled the lower tier, and threaded new services through the stadiumās historic fabric. Above, a lightweight steelāandāmembrane cover managing weather, light,Ā and sound isĀ internallyĀ supported by a ring of slender columns, keeping sightlines clear. Plugged into Berlinās transport networks, theĀ stadiumāknownĀ locallyĀ asĀ theĀ Olympiastadionānow performs as a heavily used civic venue for World Cups, Euro football tournaments, concerts,Ā andĀ other events for a forward-looking city with a very different idea of public life.
17. Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg concentration camp and museum
Engineering, like other disciplines, can be abused. SachsenhausenāOranienburg was laid out in 1936 as the Nazi SSās āmodelā concentration camp, with its isosceles-triangle plan and central Tower A engineered so guards could survey almost the entire prisoner compound from a single axis. Forced-labor industries were involved, from SS workshops inside the camp to the nearby Klinkerwerk brickworks and satellite armaments lines. They plugged the campās barracks, industrial yard, and rollācall ground into the logistics of supplying monumental Nazi building projects in Berlin. After 1945, the German Democratic Republic reshaped the surviving prisonersā triangle into a national antiāfascist memorial, including a 40-meter obelisk adorned with red triangles that represent political prisoners, inaugurated in 1961. Today, preserved barracks, reconstructed exhibits, and fireāscarred remains sit beside the former SS barracks area, now reused as a police training campus.Ā
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