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a design for the new the visitor and information center of the german bundestag in berlin (in collaboration with olivier goethals and dennis pohl).

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1 – the main vertical circulation of the building gives expression to the facade.

2 – a rectangular volume is pushed through the cylinder. this volume marks the entrance and exit of the building.

3 – to get light into center of the cylinder voids are cut into the floor plates.

4 – a steel scafolding like structure is overgrown with plants; like a vertical open garden.

5 – each function or space is enclosed in a volume independent of the facade and the vertical circulation.

6 – underground the cylinder connects with the tunnels towards the german bundestag.

7 – the outline of the structure follows the contours of the competition site. it forms an unsecured enclosure over the secured volumes.

8 – along the perimeter of the cylinder ramps slope in 2 directions. somewhere central in the building an elevator is placed.

9 – the exterior faces of the programmed volumes are clad in mirror reflecting the ramps, the movement on the ramps, and the tiergarten.

10 – "the fragmentation of the space, the de-limitation of its definition, its qualities of potential and finally its empty, a-chronic time–all this makes the arbitrary space finally to an event space understood primarily as a densification of the possible." (joseph vogl)

this design was not submitted as a contribution to the competition for the new the visitor and information center of the german bundestag in berlin as the result of a critical examination of the implications of the competition requirements*.

the visitor and information center building is embedded in the historic tiergarten using a translucent greenhouse system that allows plants and animals to take over the interior of the structure.

positioned within this greenhouse structure is a 50m diameter cylinder clad by a transparent glass facade, that separates two double helix ramp systems. while the outer double helix ramps wind up the cylinder to make the exterior of building accessible as public space, the interior ramps provides access to a playful composition of volumes and voids distributed across four storeys.

alternately reflective, opaque or transparent, the volumes arrangement produces a game of perception that dissolves the division between inside and outside, seeing and being seen, the visible and the invisible. here the gaze takes the lead role of who sees the unseen, oscillating between presence and absence of the viewer.

the provision of two separate circulation systems allows on the one hand both the green exterior of the building, and the external viewing volumes to be publicly accessible. on the other hand it allows access to the secured interior of the building through a long bar which penetrates the building on the ground level and both volumetrically and aesthetically defines the security zone of the building.

*the federal government of germany has called for entries to a competition for an “identity-creating” reception and information center for the up to 3 million visitors a year to the reichstag building. the new building will provide access to the reichstag for up to 1,500 people per hour through an underground connection. the federal government is making a 5,500sqm large area between tiergarten and the reichstag and a budget of € 65.7 million available for the project. but how much “identity” can a building create whose floor area consists to 25% of security control?

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last updated November 5, 2024