Exploded Berlin fish tank to be transformed into hanging garden

What remains of the Radisson Blu’s giant cylindrical aquarium will be converted into a vertical garden, stretching to the sixth floor of the hotel in Berlin.

Radisson Blu announces new vertical garden with 2.000 plant species

After it exploded in the early hours of the morning of December 16, 2022, what remains of the 16-metre-high cylindrical aquarium at the Radisson Blu hotel in Berlin-Mitte will now be turned into a vertical garden.

The arboresque gilded arrangement will stretch up to the sixth floor of the hotel, feature almost 2.000 plant species and cover around 120 square metres. It will act as the “new centrepiece of the hotel lobby,” Fabian Hellbusch, spokesman for Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, the company that owns the hotel, told Berliner Zeitung.

Hellbusch explained that the hotel will reopen “probably at the end of the year”. Doors have remained closed since the giant tank exploded, sending rubble and water into the lobby and street outside, and nearly 1.500 fish to their deaths.

Why did Berlin's giant AquaDom aquarium explode?

At the time of the explosion, some suspected a spate of extremely cold weather in the capital contributed to the accident. Starting in May 2023, a team of engineers began working in a storage unit in Brandenburg to quite literally piece together what may have caused the blast.

By assembling 2D copies of the debris pieces, the engineers hoped to solve the quandary. Eventually, four theories were developed as to what may have caused the explosion, including incorrect usage, a flaw in construction, a flaw in production methods or flawed materials.

But, after failing to come to a clear conclusion, the investigation was closed in October 2023, burying the mystery in the sands of time.

Thumb image credit: Shalom Rufeisen / Shutterstock.com