This tower existed because steam engines were thirsty.
Built at the beginning of the 20th century near Potsdam’s former Kaiserbahnhof, the tower supplied water to locomotives. That simple job explains every important part of the building: the round masonry, the height, the iron stair and the steel reservoir above.
When steam traction disappeared, the tower lost the system that gave it purpose. It also sat in a sensitive location between Sanssouci Park and the Wildpark, where demolition would have erased a piece of railway history from one of Potsdam’s most carefully watched landscapes.
The rescue was deliberately restrained.
The architects did not treat the tower as a hollow container waiting to be erased. They kept the round plan, the brick dome at the base, the old iron stair, the riveted tank and surviving fittings. Instead of slicing the interior into conventional rooms, the conversion works with open levels and the curve of the shell.
That decision changes the experience. You do not forget where you are halfway through the stay. Every floor reminds you that the building was designed around water, weight and vertical movement before anyone thought about beds or breakfast.
Then the tank becomes the living room.
The most audacious part arrives near the top. A large opening was cut through the riveted steel reservoir, and the former water tank itself became living space. The conversion does not merely preserve the industrial relic as an exhibit; it asks you to sit inside it.