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IAPWS Banquet:
The traditional IAPWS Banquet will
be held Wednesday, September 10, 2008 from 17:30 to approx. 23:00
at the
"House of World Cultures" (formerly known
"Berlin Congress Hall"). The banquet is included in the registration fee for
conference attendants of the
categories
"Academic" and "Corporate". For attendants of the
category "Student / Retired" and
accompanying persons the banquet can be booked separately through
the
online registration at time of
registration.
© Holger Doelle,
original image |
"The House of World
Cultures works in a building of great architectural and
historical interest. It was the USA’s contribution to the
INTERBAU 1957 building exhibition in Berlin. For the
exhibition, the designs of many renowned architects were
constructed in the nearby Hansaviertel.
In 1955, Hugh Stubbins started work on a design for a
building that would soon become a remarkable landmark in the
cityscape of post-war Berlin. Stubbins, who had been
Gropius’s assistant at Harvard before the Second World War,
was familiar with Germany. Wanting to make a statement on
that conflict between the systems commonly referred to the
Cold War, Stubbins planned a building with a hall to hold
cultural events and congresses. It was intended to serve as
a symbol and beacon of freedom with its message reaching the
East too. The former Zeltenplatz square was chosen as the
site. To ensure its contours would be clearly seen from
Communist-ruled East Berlin, the Congress Hall was erected
on an artificial mound.
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Stubbins described the
symbolic value of his architectural design as ‘completely
free’. The form of the curved roof bore a striking
resemblance to that of wings. In Stubbins’s view, the roof
upheld the promise that there would be no restrictions on
the freedom of intellectual work - a political vision shared
by the Benjamin Franklin Foundation, which commissioned the
building. |
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Construction took only one year. On 19 September 1957,
after the building had been completed, the US government
gave the Congress Hall to the City of Berlin as a present.
The artistic programme of the opening ceremony reflected the
Congress Hall’s future programme: combining theatre,
symposia and concerts, it brought together prominent
artists, scientists and politicians engaged in an
international dialogue between the New and Old Worlds."
(source
http://www.hkw.de/en/hkw/gebauede/gebaeude.php)
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© Manfred Brückels,
original image |
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