This was one of Mendelsohn's first major projects, completed when a young Richard Neutra was on his staff, and his best-known building.
The exterior was originally conceived in concrete, but due to construction difficulties, much of the building was actually realized in brick, covered with stucco. It underwent a full renovation in 1999, for its 75th anniversary, to correct problems with dampness and decay that had meant decades of repair. It is often cited as one of the few landmarks of expressionist architecture.
According to lore, Mendelsohn took Einstein on a long tour of the completed structure, waiting for some sign of approval. The design, while logical and perfectly sufficient to its purpose, stood out like an "ungainly spaceship" in the suburbs of Potsdam. Einstein said nothing until hours later, during a meeting with the building committee, when he whispered his one-word judgment: "Organic". (Otto Friedrich, Before the Deluge.) Mendelsohn himself said that he had designed it out of some unknown urge, letting it emerge out of "the mystique around Einstein's universe" (Wolf von Eckardt, Erich Mendelsohn.)
External links
- Detailed description
- Great Buildings page with many photos
- Sonnenobservatorium Einsteinturm (first page in German, but many pages in English with excellent illustrations and photos)
- ourbania - Einstein Tower
- Potsdam from Above — Einsteinturm
- Web site with photographs of architecture
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Last updated on Saturday October 04, 2008 at 01:22:14 PDT (GMT -0700)
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