Haus des Rundfunks

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The Haus des Rundfunks ("Broadcasting House") is the oldest independent broadcasting center in the world. The monumental building by Hans Poelzig is a striking part of Berlin's urban landscape.

The oldest (independent) radio station in the world is located in Berlin-Charlottenburg. The architect Hans Poelzig had won a competition in 1929 with a design that was to become exemplary. His central idea, in the truest sense of the word, was to place the three large broadcasting halls in the center of the building, shielded from street noise by surrounding office wings.

Architecture of the Haus des Rundfunks

From the ends of the 150-meter-long main facade on Masurenallee, two wings swing convexly backward to form an obtuse triangle. In the center are three trapezoidal broadcasting halls that radiate from the large atrium behind the main facade, thus forming four inner courtyards. The five-story main building, with its central 32 axes raised by one floor, is certainly impressive. The monumental structure is exclusively vertically articulated - stripes clad with reddish-brown ceramic tiles jump out from the black wall surfaces.

Sculpture "Great Night" by Georg Kolbe

Since 1987, the five-story main hall with its yellow brick galleries and the two striking lights has been resplendent in its former glory. In the center is Georg Kolbe's sculpture "Great Night" from 1930.

Architect Hans Poelzig and the Haus des Rundfunks

Hans Poelzig was not a radical innovator like Gropius, Mies van der Rohe or Le Corbusier. He refused "to experiment independently for no reason," and strove for a freedom "fought for through the intellectual processing and overcoming of what has been conquered, and which has nothing in common with the lack of restraint that inevitably leads to perplexity". Nevertheless, he created buildings whose expressiveness and monumentality have lost none of their fascination. Again and again, Poelzig alternated between horizontal structures - as, for example, at the Babylon Cinema in the Scheunenviertel (for whose urban redevelopment he was responsible) - and strict verticality, as in the Haus des Rundfunks.

Poelzig's Most Famous Buildings

Poelzig's most famous work is considered a prime example of Expressionism: the conversion of the Schumann Circus into the later Friedrichstadtpalast with its grandiose interior architecture reminiscent of a stalactite cave (the remains were demolished in 1985). His largest realized project is the IG Farben complex in Frankfurt / Main (1928-31).

Information

• Address:
  Masurenallee 14
  14057 Berlin
  City map
• Phone: [phone]
• Guided: Guided tours are offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 PM, Saturdays at 3 PM and Sundays at 10 AM. A guided tour lasts 90 minutes.
• Architect and Style: Hans Poelzig, Classical Modernism