conservation report on
The Reichstag Building Berlin
Amartya Kabiraj | 520216017 AR 704 | Dept. of Arch. T&RP | IIESTS
the Reichstag building The German word Reichstag means “imperial parliament” (das Reich, empire + der Tag, diet). The term Reichstag actually refers to the historic series of governing bodies in the German realm, and the former Prussian/German legislative body that was created in 1867 (for the North German Confederation). However, the term is often also used as shorthand for the building in which the Reichstag met for many years. Today the Reichstag building (das Reichstagsgebäude) houses the Bundestag, but it has kept the traditional “Reichstag” name.
The Reichstag , Berlin | 01
key dates in Reichstag history 1489 | The first official Reichstag convenes. 1663 | The first Reichstag with a permanent seat convenes in Regensburg. 1867 | The North German Confederation is founded. Its parliament in Berlin is called the Reichstag. 1871 | The German Empire (Deutsches Reich) is established. The Reichstag needs a new, larger home, but it will have to wait until 1894 to get one. 1884 | Construction of the Reichstag building in Berlin begins. Emperor Wilhelm I dedicates the cornerstone on June 9. 1894 | The new Reichstag building is officially dedicated in December. 1916 | After a two-decade delay, the inscription “DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE” (“To the German people”) is placed over the main entrance to the Reichstag, in the midst of WWI. 1919 | After WWI the German monarchy falls and the democratic Weimar Republic is established, with a newly elected Reichstag. 1933 | Although the Nazis had already begun to undermine the Weimar Republic, the Reichstag fire in February leads to the end of the Reichstag as a truly democratic body. 1945 | The Reichstag building is in ruins after six years of war. 1955 | The West German Bundestag decides to restore the Reichstag building in West Berlin. 1961-64 | The Reichstag building is rebuilt – minus its dome. Since the West German capital is in Bonn, the Reichstag can’t be used as a parliament building. In August 1961 the Berlin Wall goes up. Part of it stands right next to the Reichstag. 1989 | The Berlin Wall comes down on November 9. 1990 | German reunification is officially declared on October 3. 1991 | On June 20, with a bare majority of only 18 votes, the Bundestag votes to move the German capital back to Berlin from Bonn. 1993 | A competition for designing the Reichstag’s renovation begins. From an original field of 80, the British architect Norman Foster wins out over two other final contestants. Neither Foster’s first nor second design for the Reichstag includes a dome. Both plans are rejected in the end. 1994 | In January the Bundestag in Bonn votes to approve the Wrapped Reichstag project. 1995 | Foster proposes a new plan with a transparent glass and steel dome open to the public. His design, with a spiral walkway, copies earlier proposals by two other architects. Today the dome is the building’s most popular feature. 1995 | For two weeks in June/July, the Wrapped Reichstag is on display. At the end of July, construction work begins on the renovation of the Reichstag building. 1999 | In April, a symbolic key ceremony opens the renovated Reichstag building and its dome. In September the Bundestag convenes there for the first time. 2010 | A terrorism scare closes the Reichstag building to the public briefly in December. After that, the public can only visit the building with advanced reservations for a specific date and time.
The Reichstag , Berlin | 02
Reichstag building, constitution celebration, 11 August 1932 The Reichstag on fire 27 February 1933
Rising a Flag over the Reichstag Yevgeny Khaldei, May 1945
Reichstag in postwar occupied Berlin, 3 June 1945
Reichstag building in 1970 The Reichstag , Berlin | 03
Restoration of the Reichstag For almost a hundred years the Germans faced several devastating wars culminating in a failed democracy that ended with dictatorship and division under Soviet rule. By the early 1990s the Germans were reunited, hoping for a new future. Around the same time the Reichstag building, after many years of being neglected, was reconstructed to house the new German parliament. Norman Foster, a well-known British architect, retrofitted the historical building to preserve German history and reflect the population’s demanded values of true democracy, civil right, and government transparency. The creative design solutions used in the Reichstag are considered as sources of environmental as well as culture sustainability.
The Reichstag , Berlin | 04
Exterior view of the main entrance
Interior view of the main entrance
The interior of the building became like a historical museum.
Historic preservation can be seen through the preservation of the exterior of the original building along with some parts of its interior, but the majority of the interior structure was completely changed to adopt a variety of new functions. Variety of steel structures was inserted into the building to create new spaces on varies level to make the Reichstag interior more flexible and adaptable to the new functions.
Preserved parts of the old structure
The building was opened to the public as a tourist destination, which required creative solutions in the development of the new structure to include both public and private spaces without any conflicts. The new development allows both politicians and visitors to use the same entrance, which signifies equality. After passing through the entrance, the politicians make their way to their offices and the parliament hall, while the visitors are guided to a variety of public spaces around the building. The building became a museum, as visitors can see the preserved parts of the ruins of the old building. The masonry structure is still in its original shape, and some parts have been preserved with Soviet soldiers’ writing still visible.
The Reichstag , Berlin | 05
Visitors have visual accessibility to the parliament whole from the first floor.
The interior of the glass dome shaw the spiral ramp.
The observation platform at the end of the ramp
The idea of transparency is evident throughout the building, as the designer used glass as the main material that divides the various spaces. For instance, just after passing the entrance, you can see a glass wall on the first floor with a direct view of the halls of parliament. Glass was also used for the stairs’ handrails to increase visual transparency. Visitors can see politicians working and debating in the parliament hall. The designer wanted to make the government’s actions more accessible to the public. As visitors make their way to the main public space, under the glass dome on top of the parliament hall, they experience the contrast between old and new. As people reach the dome they have a full view of the city of Berlin as they walk up the spiral ramp. The ramps lead to an observation platform that allows people to ascend symbolically above the heads of their representatives in the chamber below.
Glass used on stairs handrails to increase visual transparency.
Sun-shield that tracks the sun movement to block the direct sun.
Visual accessibility from the dome to the parliament hall.
The light glass dome creates a beautiful contrast with the heavy stone structure of the old building. This experience matches the contrast that can be seen throughout the city, anywhere old and new are positioned side-by-side. This blend of the past and the present makes the German capital a true laboratory of architecture and an open-air exhibition. A variety of technological strategies were used throughout the building to increase the natural light and ventilation, and to reduce energy consumption. For example, at the dome’s core there is a light sculpture that reflects horizon light down into the chamber, while a sun-shield tracks the path of the sun to block solar gain and glare. The Reichstag , Berlin | 06
The Wrapped Reichstag - VerhĂźllter Reichstag
In the summer of 1995, following preliminary work for the Reichstag’s renovation, the environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the building in thick silver-colored woven polypropylene fabric with an aluminum surface. Held in place by 10 miles (15 km) of large blue rope, the wrapped Reichstag was on display for two weeks, from June 24 to July 6. Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude personally supervised the work done by a crew of 90 professional climbers and 120 construction workers. The project, first envisioned by the couple in 1971, was entirely financed by the artists through the sale of preparatory sketches, drawings, collages, scale models, other early works and original lithographs.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo and Jeanne-Claude were both born on June 13, 1935 (he in Bulgaria, she in Morocco). They later became American citizens. Jeanne-Claude died in November 2009, aged 74. An estimated five million people viewed the Wrapped Reichstag during its twoweek display. On July 7, the unveiling began. Soon thereafter, a complete gutting of the interior and major reconstruction of the Reichstag was undertaken.
The Reichstag , Berlin | 07
Design Development of the Dome
Sir Norman Robert Foster British Architect
In 1992, Norman Foster won the architectural contest for the reconstruction of the Reichstag building. Notably, the original design did not include the proposed cupola.
As the original design including a cupola as too expensive as the German economy was just recovering, so the design of a cupola as rejected by the German Parliament body. Later architect Norman Foster provide four more design options. Among them the concept of building a glass dome over the debuting chamber was accepted.
Design development of the Reichstag building’s new dome The Reichstag , Berlin | 08
Concept Behind the Dome
Evolutionary Spiral: Reichstag Dome
Evolution Spiral is a co-creation between artist M.P. Warming and an international team of scientists and scholars whose expertise informs the artwork. The concept for the project springs from the architecture of the Reichstag Dome, designed by Norman Foster as a symbol for democracy. The Reichstag installation would feature eighteen white flags, each depicting a graphic of a team member's ear. The installation promotes Berlin as a centre for innovation with a nod to the Dada and Fluxus art movements. The absurdity of the ears in installation is meant to convey the joyful city Berlin has become. The flags also represent the surrender of the ego to a state of authentic listening, envisioning a democracy where everyone is heard. The Evolution Spiral team reaches across the disciplines of art, science, architecture and the humanities to revisit the spiral form of the Reichstag Dome as a metaphor for evolution, and in so doing, hopes to engage broad audiences in an exploration of our world's diversity and the importance of protecting it. The Reichstag , Berlin | 09
Construction of the Dome Height: 23.5 meters Diameter: 40 meters Total weight: 1200 tons Clad in 3000 square meters of laminated safety glass---flat glazing with an intermediate layer of vinyl foil---panel size 5.10m x 1.80m max. 1.6 meter wide helical ramps integral to structure of cupola, providing lateral stiffening and vertical loading. During the reconstruction, the building was first almost completely gutted, taking out everything except the outer walls, including all changes made by Baumgarten in the 1960s. Respect for the historic aspects of the building was one of the conditions stipulated to the architects, so traces of historical events were to be retained in a visible state. Among them were graffiti left by Soviet soldiers after the final battle for Berlin in April–May 1945. The reconstruction was completed in 1999, with the Bundestag convening there officially for the first time on 19 April of that year. The Reichstag is now the second most visited attraction in Germany, not least because of the huge glass dome that was erected on the roof as a gesture to the original 1894 cupola, giving an impressive view over the city, especially at night. The Reichstag , Berlin | 10
The main impression one has of this revamped monument is space; volumes of the valuable stuff, stretching upwards and outwards in every direction. Space and light.
The Guardian
The building’s tour de force is the dome. Its skin looks delightfully delicate from a distance. A futuristic, double spiral of ramps spins light-heartedly within.
Architectural Record
The new, renovated Reichstag is something of magnificent fishbowl, and a light, elegant contrast to its heavy container ... It is a convincing expression of the new German democracy.
World of Interiors
The Reichstag , Berlin | 11
The old German parliament has been resurrected with new architectural features.
Vision of Norman Foster “… The challenge of transforming the Reichstag into something that was appropriate a reunified Germany as a seat of government one aspect is history and in a way it was almost like an excavation. Discovering the past and integrating that past into the concept, in that sense the new Reichstag becomes in part a museum…” “… the relationship of the body politic and the public, the creation of public space, the ability to look down into the chamber, to create that connection through transparency through views, so in a way a reinvention of the relationship between the decision-making, the politicians and society whom they serve all of that is expressed in the architecture and the processional route from the ground through the building and eventually to the public spaces on the roof…”
The Reichstag , Berlin | 12
Controversies As the home of the German parliament, nearly every design decision, from the major to the minutiae, took on a political significance. Nowhere is this more evident than in the dome. Foster’s winning design did not include a dome, but almost immediately after the competition was concluded, some members of parliament (MPs) began demanding a reconstruction of the original dome. As Sudjic recounts:
“Every trace of that original dome had been destroyed by a combination of war, fire, neglect, and post-war rebuilding. To make a literal reconstruction of how it had once looked went counter to all the architectural principles that Foster had come to believe in. Yet to a vocal and influential minority within Germany, it would be unthinkable to build a new parliament without a dome.” Although he initially refused to consider adding a dome, a separate proposal from a German architect to add a reconstruction of the historic dome threatened Foster's vision for the building's interior spaces, and he began exploring ideas for what he came to call the “cupola.” And it was not just the dome that was subject to the whims of the politicians. Then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl insisted on a brighter color scheme for the interiors than the neutral palette of whites and greys that Foster had originally proposed– even the sculpture of the eagle in the parliamentary chamber was the subject of considerable debate.
“…it’s more a matter of values shown in the architecture, values of democracy and I think a building a parliament building and democracy should look different from a building in a dictatorship…” - Peter Conradi, Member of German Bundestag (1972-1998)
“…I don’t think that you can express more or less democracy or openness or closeness with architectural means, to say that transparency can be achieved by having lots of glass is to disregard the fact that all the banks(in Europe) are made of glass and nobody knows what’s happening behind those glass walls at all except for the few people who sit behind them…” - Michael Cullen, Historian
The Reichstag , Berlin | 13
Conclusion Balancing the Desire for a modern parliament building with keeping the historical façade of the Reichstag has divided opinion. There are some who would like to see a rebuilding of the original dome, which once stood on the roof. The idea of recreating a historic dome has been dismissed by the majority of the parliament as a total anachronism has nothing to do with the needs of this building then and the future.
From the conservation point of view, the new glass dome might have replaced the old dome, which was also made of glass and was smaller, but the new added glass dome is reversible. The intervention was done intentionally to change the image of the structure from “Reichstag” to “Bundestag”.
The Reichstag , Berlin | 14
Resources Foster and Partners https://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/reichstag-new-germanparliament/
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_building
German-way.com https://www.german-way.com/travel-and-tourism/germany-fortourists/city-guides-germany/berlin-and-potsdam/the-reichstag-in-berlin/
Arch Daily https://www.archdaily.com/775601/ad-classics-new-german-parliamentreichstag-foster-plus-partners
Thepinnaclelist.com https://www.thepinnaclelist.com/2015/01/12/20934/reichstag-domesculpture-light-government-berlin-germany/
Case study- Foster’s new Reichstag https://qw3ub.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/case-study-fosters-newreichstag/
The Reichstag , Berlin | 15