Architect Sir Norman Foster transformed the 19th century Reichstag building in Berlin with a high-tech glass dome.
The Reichstag Dome, New German Parliament, Berlin, Germany. Sir Norman Foster, architect
Photo © Richard Davies, courtesy the Pritzker Prize Committee The Reichstag, the seat of the German Parliament, is a neo-renaissance building constructed between 1884 and 1894. A fired destroyed most of the building in 1933, and there was more destruction at the end of World War II.
Reconstruction during the mid-twentieth century left the Reichstag without a dome. In 1995, architect Sir Norman Foster proposed an enormous canopy over the entire building. Foster's idea stirred controversy so he designed a more modest glass dome.
Norman Foster's Reichstag dome floods the main hall of the parliament with natural light. A high-tech shield monitors the path of the sun and electronically controls the light emitted through the dome.
Since its completion in 1999, the Reichstag dome has attracted long lines of tourists who come to see 360-degree views of Berlin.
