Berlin.Projects. Tempelhof International Airport. Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. Netherlands Embassy. Wohnhaus Schlesisches Tor

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1 Berlin Projects 23 Created 12-Dec-07 By Mieke Vullings, Rotterdam, Netherlands Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe Netherlands Embassy GSW Headquarters Page Memorial Neue Nationalgalerie Jewish Museum Berlin Lapidarium 7 Moabit Prison Historical Park 8 KW Institute for Contemporary Art 14 Hausburgviertel Gymnasium 15 Slender - Bender 16 Heinz Galinski Schule 17 Am Kupfergraben Berlin, David Chipperfield s exposition space, gallery 9 Galeries Lafayette 19 Berlin, Jean Nouvel commercial space, mall, shopping centre 10 Mexico Embassy 20 Berlin, Teodoro González de León embassy, government 11 Berlin, Glaßer und Dagenbach memorial space, park, penitentiary, play ground Wohnhaus Schlesisches Tor Berlin, Zvi Hecker education, primary school Berlin, Ruth Golan - Kay Zareh exposition space Berlin, deadline - office for architectural services apartment, office Berlin, Daniel Libeskind museum 6 Berlin, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe museum 13 Berlin, Chestnutt Niess s sport Berlin, Zvi Hecker memorial space, monument 5 Berlin, Sauerbruch Hutton s office, renovation Tempelhof International Airport Berlin, Alvaro Siza Vieira housing Berlin, Inside Outside embassy 4 Berlin, OMA - Rem Koolhaas embassy, housing Angel Root Berlin, Ernst Sagebiel airport Berlin, Peter Eisenman memorial space, monument 3 The Embassies of the Nordic Countries 21 Berlin, Berger+Parkkinen embassy 12 Berlin, Hans Düttmann atelier, exposition space, pavilion Sony Center 22 Berlin, Murphy-Jahn cinema, commercial space, dwellings, museum, office 1

2 Fire and Police Station 23 Berlin, Sauerbruch Hutton s fire station, police station Reichstag Exhibition hall of the German Historical Museum 25 Berlin, IM Pei museum 24 Berlin, Foster & Partners government 2

3 photo: Dirk Verwoerd photo: Dirk Verwoerd Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe Cora-Berliner-Strasse Berlin The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in the centre of Berlin is 's central Holocaust memorial site, a place for remembrance and commemoration of six million victims The Memorial consists of the Field of Stelae designed by architect Peter Eisenman and the underground Information Centre and is maintained by a Federal Foundation An interesting project which spreads over a huge area in the city centre Confusing, disturbing and playing with all senses photo: Dirk Verwoerd 2005 Peter Eisenman Stiftung Denkmal fur die ermordeten Juden Europas Thomas_Boegl The Field of Stelae is open to the public day and night and became one the tourists' magnets of the German Capital The Information Centre is open from 10 am to 8 pm (last entrance 715 pm, closed on Mondays) go to nearest subway station S-Bahn Unter den Linden 3

4 photo: Piotr Krajewski photo: Piotr Krajewski Netherlands Embassy Klosterstrasse Berlin The new Dutch embassy is located in the Berlin-Mitte district, the earliest heart of the German capital, in-between the River Spree and the omnipresent TV tower on Alexanderplatz In 2005 OMA won the Mies van der Rohe Award for the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin: The jury felt that the embassy was a powerful reconceptualization of the notion of an embassy, a government agency, and a building block within a city OMA's refusal to either adapt to the city grid or create a monument, choosing instead to create a carefully formed fragment that leaves open the question of what the identity of a government or a country should be, was much appreciated It was also felt that the spiraling trajectory that winds its metal-clad way through the whole block while allowing carefully framed views of the neighbouring city, produced such a seductive series of spaces carried out with such a sophistication of materials and visual effects and so revealing of its context, that it should receive the prize m² Main designer, Interior architect Services engineer Cooperating designer Lighting designer Project manager Supplier OMA - Rem Koolhaas Inside Outside Huygen Elwako Inside Outside OVI, Washinton DC Royal Haskoning Lensvelt Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs MI_MOA photo: Piotr Krajewski 4

5 photo: Aura Luz Melis Angel Root Klosterstrasse Berlin Inside Outside designed the interior for the Dutch Ambassy in Berlin The requirements for lights and acoustics along the building s glass façades lead to a series of curtains In the multipurpose room are 2 large woven-to-size linens that respond to the required light and sound program, while emphasizing the connection and reflection of the exterior into the interior space The organic shape of the large scale image and the vivid colours (lime & cream; black & white), form a strong counterpart to the square aluminium building It was the first time Inside Outside sought had its own cloth produced, in collaboration with the Textile Museum in Tilburg (NL) It was in Holland that the design was woven in a classic jacquard technique, creating double-sided, damask linen The lime green refers to the spring leaves of the acacias in the adjacent park, the Angel Root to Holland s moist soil and vegetable garden tradition, the horizontal lines to Holland s flat and spacious horizons photo: Aura Luz Melis Interior architect, Landscape architect Inside Outside Aura_Luz_Melis Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs You can only visit the central entrance hall, and on some rare, pre-programmes days the whole building is open for the public There are no tours, nor exceptions made Real close to U and S bahn Alexanderplatz And even closer to U-bahn Klosterstrasse 5

6 photo: Thomas Bögl photo: Thomas Bögl GSW Headquarters Kochstrasse Berlin This is an extension to and renovation of a high rise slab It forms the extension to an office tower which was one of the first projects to be built during the reconstruction of Berlin in the 1950s One of the most exciting architectural projects of Berlin With a single building it answers to several complex urban planning questions The building not only combines the different urban scales and styles, but it is also able to transform them and melt them together to something completely new m² Sauerbruch Hutton s GSW Gemeinnützige Siedlungs- und Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Thomas_Boegl photo: Thomas Bögl You can visit the building, to make reservations visit the company's website: subway U-Bahn Line number 6 to Kochstrasse Or take bus M29 6

7 photo: Michael Krueger photo: Michael Krueger Page Memorial Axel-Springer Strasse Berlin Many German synagogues were ransacked and more than two hundred of them were even burned down on Kristallnacht, November Among them was the Synagogue on the Lindenstrasse in Berlin, that had been built by architects Cremer and Wolffenstein in 1881 This modest page memorial for the Lindenstrasse Synagogue by the Polish-Israeli architect Zvi Hecker brings back the memory and traces of Jewish life in Kreuzberg that had been erased completely for many years Hecker has done so by reconstructing the arrangement of benches that had once stood in the synagogue The focus on this element reinforces a sensation of absence of the synagogue and even more, the loss of its congregation m² Associate architect Artist Zvi Hecker Eyal Weizman Micha Ullman Barmer Ersatzkasse Berlin olivier_van_den_hoven photo: Michael Krueger unregular The memorial is located in the courtyard of the Barmer Erzatskasse Check the satellite images to see its exact location You can recognize the design clearly 7

8 photo: Dirk Verwoerd photo: Dirk Verwoerd Neue Nationalgalerie Potsdamer Straße Berlin The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery), the 'temple of light and glass' designed by Mies van der Rohe, houses a collection of 20th century European painting and sculpture It s main exhibition spaces are below street level The building comprises almost 5,000 square metres of exhibition space and around 800 metres of wall space a surprisingly large capacity hidden half underground beneath the famous steel and glass construction The spacious glass hall at ground level lures the visitor inside, underneath the great black structural steel canopy Along with Mies Barcelona Pavilion, the Neue Nationalgalerie is considered one of the foremost examples of structural abstraction emblematic of the International Style photo: Dirk Verwoerd 1968 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Neue Nationalgalerie NGHM Mon closed Tue 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Wed 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Thu 10:00 am - 10:00 pm Fri 10:00 am - 10:00 pm Sat 10:00 am - 10:00 pm Sun 10:00 am - 6:00 pm U-Bahn U2 (Potsdamer Platz) S-Bahn S1, S2, S25 (Potsdamer Platz) Bus M29 (Potsdamer Brücke); M41 (Potsdamer Platz Bhf / Voßstraße); M48 (Kulturforum); 200, 347 (Philharmonie) The Neue Nationalgalerie is south of the Tiergarten and west of Potsdamer Platz, next door to the Philharmonie 8

9 photo: Jens Ziehe photo: Jens Ziehe Jewish Museum Berlin Lindenstraße Berlin It is "like other museums, with white walls where pictures can be hung and objects exhibited" (Daniel Libeskind, 2000) The Jewish Museum Berlin is one of the most spectacular museum buildings in Since the beginning it has been a magnet for the public, attracting 350,000 people even as an empty shell before it opened in fall 2001 The architecture was undoubtedly the cause for this initial popularity Numerous views and opinions have been expressed on the Jewish Museum Berlin Whether visitors see Libeskind's new building as a "spectacular" or a "normal" museum, a deconstructivist masterpiece, a ground breaking creation, intellectuality in the form of a house, or even an exhibit in its own right? the architect placed great emphasis on people's perceptions of the building and these are formed anew day after day m² Daniel Libeskind Stiftung Juedisches Museum Berlin NiER photo: Wojtek Gurak Monday from 10 am to 10 pm Tuesday-Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm Admittance will be granted until 7 pm Tuesdays-Sundays, 9 pm on Mondays Take the subway: U1, U6 Hallesches Tor; U6 Kochstraße Or the Bus: M29, M41,

10 photo: Kris Leenders photo: Kris Leenders Lapidarium Schönhauser Allee Berlin At the end of the 1990's, the Jewish cemetery was in a bad condition, due to bombings during World War II and violation of graves The original plans of the cemetery buildings (architect Johann Hoeniger, 1892) were found in archives The Lapidarium has been built on the foundations and cellar of the original mourning hall, next to the entrance to the cemetery The street façade is closed, as an extension of the cemetery wall Only a small part of the façade is slightly set back and glazed, to give a glimpse into the exposition hall A horizontal elongated window band along the street symbolizes the Eternal Light The façade looking to the cemetery is entirely glazed The Lapidarium displays 64 gravestones, whose original location could not be determined Ten information panels explain the Jewish funeral rituals photo: Kris Leenders m² Ruth Golan - Kay Zareh Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin Kris_Leenders monday - thursday friday closed on Jewish holidays take the subway U2 to Senefelder Platz 10

11 photo: Kris Leenders photo: Kris Leenders Moabit Prison Historical Park Invalidenstraße Berlin The Moabit penitentiary, constructed in 1849, was demolished in 1958 The prison wall is restored The original size and star-shaped layout of the buildings is traced by a combination of elements Sloped lawns with concrete frames represent the prisoners' wings A walk-in concrete sculpture is a reproduction of one of the cells (it should contain a sound installation, which I couldn't hear or find) Paving stones in the lawns indicate the location of the courtyards The central point of surveillance is represented by a cubic 'panopticum' sculpture A cube of beech trees traces the administrative wing Towards the housing on Lehrter Straße, the lawn turn into woods, with play grounds and picnic tables The starkish design certainly does evoke the starkness and isolation of imprisonment, all the more since the park is never crowded (though I was there on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I never saw more then five people at a time) The project won the Deutsche Landschaftsarchitektur-Preis 2007 photo: Kris Leenders m² Landscape architect Glaßer und Dagenbach Bezirksamt Mitte von Berlin Kris_Leenders April - September: / October - March: take the train or the S-Bahn to Hauptbahnhof, situated just on the other side of Invalidenstraße 11

12 photo: Regis Pennel photo: Kris Leenders KW Institute for Contemporary Art Auguststraße Berlin KW defines itself as "a laboratory for communicating and advancing contemporary cultural developments by means of exhibitions, workshops and resident artists' studios, as well as by collaborating with artists or other institutions and by commissioning works" The front on Auguststraße is occupied by a baroque "Stadtpalais" (city palace), a listed building from the second half of the 18th century Once passed the gateway, you discover a pleasant courtyard, often used for open air exhibitions and installations In the corner of the courtyard, the American artist Dan Graham added the Café Bravo pavilion (architecturally realized in collaboration with Johanne Nalbach) The glass and steel construction sets its surroundings in motion, playing a game of refraction, reflection and transparency At the rear of the courtyard is a late-19th-century margarine factory On a second courtyard behind the factory, the Berlin architect Hans Düttmann built a classical white cube exhibition hall photo: Kris Leenders m² Main designer, Artist Hans Düttmann Dan Graham Johanne Nalbach Kunst-Werke Berlin Kris_Leenders Tuesday - Sunday: / Thursday / admission: 6,00 euro take the subway U8 to Weinmeisterstraße or S-Bahn to Oranienburger Straße 12

13 photo: Kris Leenders photo: Günter Wicker (Photur) / Berliner Flughäfen Tempelhof International Airport Platz der Luftbrücke Berlin The airport was a part of Albert Speer's plan for the reconstruction of Berlin It turned out to be the largest built entity worldwide During the Soviet blockade in 1948/49, the Berlin Airlift operated from here, turning Tempelhof into a symbol of a free Berlin The 400 m long flight gate hall has no central supports The hangars directly join both sides of the hall, forming a curved building with a length of 1200 m The front is structured by staircase towers at intervals of 70 m The façade is clad with shell limestone panels, dominated by endless rows of windows So many times Tempelhof has made arriving in Berlin a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me Each time my plane taxied right up to the building and I could get out, sheltered from the weather by the huge canopy After a short walk through an amazingly simple and luminous hall, I found myself right in the heart of Berlin As of October 2008, when Tempelhof is due to close, arriving in Berlin will never be the same again photo: Kris Leenders m² Ernst Sagebiel Reichsluftfahrtministerium Kris_Leenders 24/7 (the airport is set to shut in October 2008) take the plane (the subway U6 to Platz der Luftbrücke will do too) 13

14 photo: Brighdino photo: João Sousa Wohnhaus Schlesisches Tor Schlesische Straße Berlin International recognition came to Siza in 1980 with his design of the Schlesisches Tor (Bonjour Tristesse), a large public housing block in Berlin Many have read this project, Siza's first to be built abroad, as the embodiment of the "contextual" qualities of his architecture, seeing proof of Siza's trademark sensitivity to his surroundings in the rhythms of the windows, in the apartment block's evocation of the street's curve, and in the slit between the new and old buildings I prefer to see it as a mirror of the melancholia of urban life Now known by the name Bonjour Tristesse scrawled clandestinely on its facade, the Schlesisches Tor - with its outer wall of identically sized windows - is animated only by the abstract evocation of a horizontal line, broken by a small dip as the building encounters the sky - ruefully reminds us that architecture is not, after all, always a joyful reflection of contemporary living Project is not public! Alvaro Siza Vieira JMMM photo: Justien "Schlesisches Tor" - (Berlin U-Bahn) 14

15 photo: Werner Huthmacher Hausburgviertel Gymnasium Otto-Ostrowski-Strasse Berlin In 19th-century Prussian industrial architecture, brick was the dominant material, and its red colour ensured that the halls of Berlin's main slaughterhouse complex were visible from afar Many structures on the site have now been demolished and the surviving listed buildings are being integrated into a new mixed-use quarter The former cattle hall, for example, has been converted into this gymnasium Compared with the original brick structure, the neo-modern cube of the new sports hall stands out clearly, dominated on the outside by horizontal wooden slats, made of larch The light falling through the slats into the interior creates a striking effect: the roof construction, spanning the hall in a single unsupported slab with integrated skylights and acoustic elements, appears to float The pine load-bearing structure is trussed with steel tie rods fixed in the centre of the hall by V-shaped brackets photo: Werner Huthmacher 2006 Structural engineer Chestnutt Niess s Eisenloffel, Sattler & Partners Federal State of Berlin Christian_Welzbacher S-Bahn stations 'Landsberger Allee' and 'Storkower Strasse' are nearby 15

16 photo: Klemens Ortmeyer photo: Klemens Ortmeyer Slender - Bender Hessische Strasse Berlin Slender/Bender is an attempt to reconcile conservative urban planning with contemporary architecture Bender is the renovation of an existing building, while Slender is a residential and office building addition The proud six-storey structure with its gently curved exterior is wrapped in stainless steel bands, dividing it into a three-part architectural sculpture Its broad façade, attached to the building like an outsized bay window, opens up with what for Berlin are unusually large windows Everything about the building is drawn out lengthways: rooms and open spaces are lined up like a long chain, visitors are kept constantly in motion, exploring the depths of the house, climbing the stretched stairway to the upper floors, the miniature roof garden, a suspended platform in the two-storey bedroom, a protruding balcony If Slender/Bender is about flowing spaces and dynamic outlines, then the building also seems to reflect deadline's creative ethos that owes to the AA in London m² deadline - office for architectural services Britta Jürgens, Matthew Griffin Christian_Welzbacher photo: Klemens Ortmeyer 16

17 photo: Michael Krueger photo: Michael Krueger Heinz Galinski Schule Waldschulallee 73 / Berlin In 1990 Polish-Israeli architect Zvi Hecker won the competition for a Jewish School in Berlin with a remarkable proposal The building was thought as an unfolding sunflower Its many curving walls and roofs conceal a fragmented world of classrooms, squares and corridors Hecker refers to the concept of the school becoming a city This project marked the start of a European chapter for the office because it has its permanent base in ever since photo: Michael Krueger Project is not public! m² Services engineer Structural engineer Associate architect Landscape designer Zvi Hecker Barbara Schmelz Gerhard Pichler Inken Baller Kamel Louafi Judische Gemeinde zu Berlin olivier_van_den_hoven You can only visit this project when making an appointment at forehand 17

18 photo: Jörg von Bruchhausen photo: Jörg von Bruchhausen Am Kupfergraben 10 Am Kupfergraben 10 D Berlin Here on the Kupfergraben canal the intention was to build a modern building which incorporates, but doesn t replicate the past As an urban repair, the new building occupies the footprint of the preceding building (destroyed in the war), while at the same time developing a sculptural quality The façades are composed of brick masonry on reconstituted stone consoles with no visible expansion joints While solid, age-resistant materials characterise the exterior, the interior is defined by daylight and proportion Throughout the 4 storeys the floor plan varies depending on the formation of the volume and the window openings The gallery spaces are lit from the side, and interior folding shutters make it possible to reduce the amount of daylight In contrast to a museum, the intention is to create good spaces, where one can live, work, or show art - in a townhouse dedicated to the arts, where it is not isolated from the world, but directly related to the cultural heart of the city m² Structural engineer Structural engineer Services engineer Services engineer David Chipperfield s Dreßler Bau Ingenieurgruppe Bauen JMP Ingenieurgesellschaft KMS Beratungs- und Planungsgesellschaft Celine and Heiner Bastian David_Chipperfield photo: Christian Richters Tuesday - Friday 11 am 6 pm Saturday 11 am 4 pm The gallery is closed between Christmas and New Year's Day The gallery is directly opposite of Berlin s Museum Island Take the U/S-bahn to Friedrichstrasse or the S-bahn to Hackescher Markt 18

19 photo: Naomi Schiphorst photo: Naomi Schiphorst Galeries Lafayette Friedrichstrasse Berlin Known for his slick surfaces and shining facades, French architect Jean Nouvel has combined transparent and translucent surfaces in this department store, and so creates an unforgettable shopping experience on the corner of the Friedrichstrasse and Franzosischestrasse Once Berlin s fanciest shopping street Several glass cone-shaped volumes dominate the interior The main cone rises several stories upwards from street level to the top of the building A second, smaller, inverted cone drops from street level past two shopping levels and two parking levels underground Check out the satellite images on the map, to see the amount of cones in this building from above m² Structural engineer Jean Nouvel ARUP Euro Projekt Entwicklungs GMBH NGHM photo: Naomi Schiphorst Monday - Saturday open, from 10 to 20:00 hr The building is block 207, between Franzosische Strasse and Mohrenstrasse Take the U-bahn to the Franzosische Strasse 19

20 photo: TomAs Martinez Vallerga photo: TomAs Martinez Vallerga Mexico Embassy Klingelhöferstrasse Berlin The project was the winner of a competition in 1997, where 8 architectural firms participated The building is located in the central part of Berlin, near the Tiergarten The intention was to create a building with an unmistakable image and unforgettable in the urban memory It gives a changeable image of solidity and transparency, with a dynamic effect depending on the position of the viewer It creates a monumentality, lightness and transparency game, that tries to express the Mexican reality photo: TomAs Martinez Vallerga Public access unknown! m² Main designer, Structural engineer Teodoro González de León Francisco Serrano Cacho ASSMANN BERATEN + PLANEN Mexico Government MVar The Berlin metro (U-Bahn) to Wittenbergplatz, there south east to An der Urania (big avenue with a boulevard), and there north crossing the river on the left hand side in the first corner 20

21 photo: TomAs Martinez Vallerga photo: TomAs Martinez Vallerga The Embassies of the Nordic Countries Rauchstrasse 1 D Berlin Five Nordic countries = Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden decided to build their embassies together on one site The intention is to show the relation between ure and Nature in the North of Europe In the centre of the building there is an open Plaza, and as a symbol for the ocean connecting of all Nordic countries a waterbasin is cutting through the complex in a clear geometric form Al 5 buildings are enclosed by a 226m long copper band The house for joint activities is called Fælleshus a house for all, both for members of the embassies as well as for visitors and people from Berlin photo: TomAs Martinez Vallerga m² Main designer, Project manager Lighting designer Services engineer Landscape designer Berger+Parkkinen 3XN PK Arkitektar Snøhetta VIIVA arkkitehtuuri Oy Wingårdh Arkitektkontor Drees & Sommer GmbH George Sexton Associates IGH Berlin Karsten Böcking Danish Ministry of Housing and Building Finland Ministry for Foreign Affairs Iceland Government Engineering Contracts Norway Statsbygg Public Construction + Property Sweden Statens Fastighetsverk MVar The Felleshus / Pan Nordic Building of the Nordic Embassies is open daily to the general public Advance notification is not required You can obtain information from our Nordic staff members, have a look at a current Nordic exhibition, inform yourself about coming events in the Felleshus or pay a visit to the Nordic canteen Monday - Friday 10:00 am - 7:00 pm Saturday Sunday 11:00 am - 4:00 pm S-Bahn: S3, S5, S7, S75 and S9: stop Zoologischer Garten, then bus 100 or 200 to stop "Nordische Botschaften" S-Bahn: S1, S2, S25: stop Potsdamer Platz, then bus 200 to stop "Nordische Botschaften" Bus 100, 200 or 187 to stop "Nordische Botschaften" 21

22 photo: Dirk Verwoerd photo: Dirk Verwoerd Sony Center Potsdamer Platz Berlin In the reconstruction of Berlin, Sony Center stands for a new technical vision and order It is not a building, but a part of the city The spatial dynamics and variety is contrasted by a minimal and technological attitude Light, both natural and artificial, is the essence of the design Sony Center is luminous, not illuminated Façades and roof act as a fabric which moderates the natural and artificial light They become a screen With its characteristics of transparency, permeability to light, reflection and refraction, there is a constant change of images and effects during day and night Sony Center is a group of buildings for the new age of entertainment There is a serious effort for tailoring an architecture to the stimulating contemporary confusion of private and public space (s statement) photo: Dirk Verwoerd m² Murphy-Jahn Tishman Speyer Gmbh MVar By Bus and Train: Potsdamer Platz Subway Station (Line U2); Potsdamer Platz Elevated Train (S-Bahn) Station (Lines S1/S2/S25/S26); Bus Lines 148/200/248/348/N5/N52 By Car: A100, A113, A114; Underground parking garage entrance at Ben-Gurion-Straße and Bellevuestraße 22

23 photo: René Rutgers photo: René Rutgers Fire and Police Station Elisabeth-Abegg-Straße Berlin This is a renovation and extension of a former Goods Yard Building The new station for the governmental police and fire departments is an extension to a free-standing 19th century structure which was originally part of the Prussian customs and tax authorities complex, close to the river Spree The single-banked rear wing of the building is used as a back-bone for the extension The space underneath the new building provides covered accommodation for the various vehicles, whilst the yard accommodates the necessary manoeuvres of the large fire engines As the building is set back considerably from the main road and lies approximately sic metres below street level, the visitor approaches the police station across a new foot-bridge (sauerbruch hutton) photo: Naomi Schiphorst Public access unknown! m² Sauerbruch Hutton s City of Berlin Naomi You can call the station to ask if its possible to visit the building: 030/

24 photo: Viktor Ramos photo: Viktor Ramos Reichstag Platz der Republik Berlin Since 1999, the Bundestag has had its seat at the Reichstag Building in Berlin Built as a result of an architectural competition, the Reichstag was originally designed by Paul Wallot and completed in 1894 It is a bombastic building, with an overscaled above-ground basement level and four monumental facades During the night of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag was burned, destroying the interior and the dome which surmounted the building After further damage during the Second World War, a restoration of sorts was carried out between 1958 and 1972 After reunification, another architectural competition resulted in Foster and Partners being appointed to restore the building as a parliamentary center Foster removed the mezzanine floors inserted by Paul Baumgarten and added a new glass dome to the room, one of Berlin's much celebrated buildings and one primary tourist attraction of the city photo: Naomi Schiphorst 1999 Foster & Partners Deutscher Bunderstag boeboe The dome is open daily from 0800 to 2400 hrs (Last admission 2200 hrs) Entrance is at the west portal, right entrance (West B) The roof garden restaurant east of the dome is open daily from 0900 to 1630 hours and from 1830 to 2400 hours Visitors who have already reserved a table, can enter the building via the entrance below the west portal to the right (West C) Tables can be reserved by telephone on +49 (0) Guided tours are available, contact besucherdienst@bundestagde The German Bundestag (the Reichstag Building and the new buildings) can be easily reached on foot from the following stations and stops: Hauptbahnhof: Long-distance trains, regional trains, S-Bahn; Friedrichstraße: regional trains, S-Bahn, U-Bahn; Unter den Linden: S-Bahn; Reichstag/Bundestag: Bus routes 100, M 41; 24

25 photo: René Rutgers photo: René Rutgers Exhibition hall of the German Historical Museum Unter den Linden Berlin The extension, which took four years to complete, is a sparkling addition to the city s skyline With its dramatic, glass-walled spiral staircase, the new wing stands in sharp contrast to its neighbors, the neoclassical Altes Museum and Neue Wache, built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel Pei called on specialists from across Europe to help construct his design: an Irish team built a special supporting framework; parts of the complex staircase were shaped in the Netherlands; he combined French limestone with North American granite and Finnish glass In an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, Pei put his creation in context: "The architecture should seduce people to move through the whole building full of curiosity and pleasure I even want to tempt them to the top-most floor through ever more steps, new views" It s Pei s only project in Like the new glass cupola of Berlin s Reichstag by Norman Foster, the Pei wing is expected to attract tourists with its striking design m² photo: René Rutgers IM Pei German Historical Museum Daily 10 am - 6 pm The DHM will be closed 24 and 31 December 2008 rrutgers 25