In order to provide a new public access to the German Bundestag in Berlin and to provide a space for presentations, the Council of Elders of the German Reichstag decided to establish a new Visitor and Information Centre. The new building is conceived as a slender, rectangular volume along the Scheidemannstrasse. Geometrically, the building is oriented towards the government buildings and is understood a part of the government precinct. By positioning the building away from the street a spacious forecourt has been created, which provides visitors with an arrival space from where there is an impressive view of the parliament buildings.
The different levels are combined in a single structure encircled by a ring of slender columns. With its transparency and openness, the building merges visually with the surrounding Tiergarten park.
The colonnade references the classical Greek temple and its definition of public space. However, here, the typology is given a contemporary interpretation and is abstracted. With its transparency and permeability, the light-filled hall eludes to a modern concept of democracy.
The building is organised on three programmatically distinct levels, which are connected by a broad staircase. While the first floor serves to filter the stream of visitors, the upper floor, a light-filled hall, offers generous views of the Reichstag building and the Platz der Republik.
Rather than being a massive, masonry edifice, the visitors’ centre is a light pavilion surrounded by the greenery of the Tiergarten.
