标志性的波茨坦广场承载着东、西柏林分裂而遗留的历史创伤。如薄沙般浅浅的流动台阶在微风拂动下，形成波光粼粼的韵律表面，为人们提供更多的亲水、戏水乐趣。此城市水环境设计使得波茨坦广场成为柏林著名的游览场所之一，并在建成十余年之后收获德国DGNB绿色建筑认证体系可持续城市区域设计银奖。
　　The iconic Potsdamer Plaza bridges the scar left by the wall between East and West Berlin. A veil of shallow flow-steps create a rhythmic surface of shimmering waves, providing multiple opportunities for people to cross and interact with the water. This urban waterscape has contributed to make Potsdamer Plaza one of the most visited places in Berlin, which achieved 2011 DGNB Silver Sustainable Urban District Award after more than 10 years of its completion. 
　　人们对于建成后的波茨坦广场期望很大，不过这一处曾经作为欧洲最宏伟建筑场地的环境却极为复杂。需求主要存在于2个方面：人们不仅希望这里是工作的场所，同时也希望这里是他们能够进行休闲活动的地方。需要建造一种充满生机和活力的城市空间，尽管这在高楼林立的公司总部建筑的笼罩之下显得有些困难。加上这个项目高标准的生态设计要求，更加凸显出所遇到的问题：十分有限的休闲娱乐场地空间提供，这也约束了所有的设计需求和意愿。什么样的开放空间规划策略、什么样的设计主题能够在大量使用者与城市设计之间达成平衡，并最终满足严格生态标准的设计要求？
　　Expectations of the completed Potsdamer Platz were immense, and the problems on what was once Europe’s largest building site were highly complicated. Two demands: people were not just supposed to work here, they were supposed to spend their leisure time here as well. A vibrant urban construct was to be created, which is difficult in the shadow of towering company headquarters. And the intention of setting high ecological standards for the project had caught on as well. There were the following problems: very little space was available for leisure provision, and it was subject to all sorts of demands and wishes. What devices for planning open space, what themes can be used to do justice to a lot of people and the urban design at the same time, and finally to come close to meeting ecological aims? 
　　自柏林墙被推倒之后，赫伯特•德赖赛特尔即与一队英德规划团队一起参与了波茨坦广场的设计。而水作为广场开放空间主要元素的设计主题自初始阶段即受到参议院和投资方的认可。首先，以水作为设计主题所能够营造出的所有可能性捕获了他们的想象力，其次这样进行设计满足生态标准的潜力也激起了他们的兴趣。以雨水作为如厕冲水和灌溉绿色空间的建议符合了这种需求。同时，也可以采用地下水箱收集雨水、补给包含一个广场北侧的狭小湖体、广场上大面积主体水体以及南部水面。另外，这样的设计提供了建造阶段不降低地下水位、且能够适当收集建筑体滑落雨水、填充附近运河（Landwehrkanal）的可行性。
　　Herbert Dreiseitl had already worked on Potsdamer Platz immediately after the Wall came down, with an Anglo-German planning team. The theme of water as a defining element in the open space had convinced both the Senate and the investors from the outset. First of all the design possibilities caught their imagination, and secondly they were fired by the chance of meeting the ecological challenges. The suggestion that rainwater should be used for flushing toilets and watering green areas was met with interest. The same was true of the idea of using the rainwater that collected in the underground tanks to feed a water system that would include a narrow pool on the northern side, one in the piazza, the large main area of water and the southern area of water. Additionally, this offered the opportunity not to lower the groundwater during the building phase and to make an intermediate collection of all the rainwater that fell on the buildings and slowly feed it into the Landwehrkanal. 
　　应用复杂的计算机模拟进行预测，在十年间运河仅三次吸纳暴雨时增加的降水量，这样的预测是基于未封闭地块大概的排水指数。为了确保这样的情况，系统需要具备足够的缓冲能力。首先，通过设置5个能够容纳2600立方水量的地下水箱，其中900立方被留作备用以应对强降雨量。另外，在常水位与高水位之间，设计中的主体水面能够提供15厘米高度的水量存留，这样便提供了1300立方的缓冲蓄水能力。一个关键的特征是主体水面经过沉淀后，水质自然分层，也因此获取了下部浑浊层之上的清水资源。水体中的固态物质首先在地下水箱中沉淀，之后通过南部和主体水面岸边的水管留出，经过生态净化群落，在那里水质得到生物性和化学性的净化。
　　A complex computer simulation was used to predict that the Landwehrkanal would only be compelled to absorb heavily increased amounts of precipitation three times in ten years; this is based on the approximate drainage figures for an unsealed plot. To guarantee this, the system must carry sufficient buffer capacity. This is provided in the first place by five underground tanks with a total volume of 2,600 cubic metres, of which 900 cubic metres are left free in their turn for cases of heavy precipitation. In addition to this, the main area of water can still offer a reserve of 15 centimetres between the normal and the maximum water level, which provides a storage buffer of 1,300 cubic metres. A key feature was the water resources that were discovered above the turbidity level of the main area of water. Solids can start to settle in the underground tanks before the water flows out of source vessels on the banks of the south and main areas of water, through planted purification biotopes, where it is cleaned biologically and chemically. 
　　如果需要，也会使用工程过滤手段移除夏季水面上漂浮的藻类。在玛琳•黛德丽广场（Marlene-Dietrich-Platz）水体以复杂多变的形式流向广场的最低点。水体自主体部分向流动阶梯滑行，在此处具有韵律感的波形结构被创造出来。细部设计精确至厘米，由全比例的模型制作而成。之后毗邻广场，水体从两侧缓缓移动，穿过线形水阶，清晰地与建筑体形态呼应。最终，水流从北部水体出发，流入一个狭窄的水渠。该项目被设置了极其复杂的设计标准，戴姆勒克莱斯勒集团（DaimlerChrysler）的代表卡尔海因茨•博恩（Karlheinz Bohn）在波茨坦广场开放之后恰当地指出了“正如这一设计概念带给我们所有人迷人的景致，我们也能够非常清楚地看到如果建造人工的大水面，则需要高能耗的技术干预和化学添加物的使用。”这一设计的结果能够成为一个很好的说服，因它的实施，水质保持很好，对于降雨也具备一定的缓冲能力，同时能够节约建筑物内部的净水消耗量。用设计语言来讲，这一处具有城市水敏特征的设计赋予了波茨坦广场开放空间独特的魅力！
　　If necessary, technical filters can also be used, which will remove any floating algae in the summer months. In Marlene-Dietrich-Platz water flows in intricate patterns to the lowest point in the piazza. The water glides of flowsteps from the main expanse of water, and here rhythmic wave structures are formed. A detail that is accurate to a millimetre, worked out in 1:1 models. Then, immediately adjacent to the piazza, the water drifts from two sides over linear wave cascades, creating a clear link with the architecture. Finally water also emerges from a source in the northern area of water, then flows down a narrow channel. Given the extremely complex criteria that had to be met, DaimlerChrysler representative Karlheinz Bohn rightly pointed out after the opening that ‘as well as the fascination that this idea exercised over all of us, it soon became clear that an artificial expanse of water creates a number of problems if energy-intensive technology and chemical additives are not used.’ The results are convincing, as the quality of the water is good, the buffer capacity is adequate and the use of fresh water in the buildings has been reduced. In design terms, the ‘Urban Water Feature’ has given Potsdamer Platz a unique open space.