Golf Park Dubrovnik - DalCasa

only a starting point, a template, which changed significantlyduring the three and half years that passedbetween winning the competition and the start ofwork. Indeed, his original concept from 1992 did notinclude the present main attraction of the building –the glass dome.Except for the facade, the building was completelydemolished during reconstruction, includingBaumgarten’s alternations from the 1960s. The resulthas been labeled a success, although there were objectionsthat the concept did not respect enough thebuilding’s original appearance and furnishings. Thegreat popularity among tourists of the glass dome,constructed in homage to the original 1894 dome, hascompletely silenced the critics. After the four years ofconstruction, nobody mentioned the 250 million Europrice tag for the project.During the project, Foster advised that the “scarson the building acquired during the war” should notbe hidden and that the graffiti made by Red Army soldiersin 1945, hidden behind false walls for more thanthree decades after Baumgarten’s reconstruction,should be retained. He believed that the willingnessof the new German parliament to look at these signsof history would demonstrate their political maturityand that the building itself would be able to tell itsstory through the graffiti.Visitors are impressed most by the harmony ofspace and light. Large glass surfaces, the transparentdome and the four inner courtyards let light througheven to areas in the center of the building. Forsterfirst designed the dome as cylindrical form within agiant hi-tech umbrella, but the idea was rejected dueThe dome’s main attraction is themagnificent view of Berlin that itprovides from above and also its viewdown to the main conference hall.to its enormous cost. The final dome construction, whichhas a diameter of 40 m, a length of 23.5m, and weighs1,200 tons, rests on a stone roof and permits daylightinto the depths of the building through a cone centerlined with mirrors (360 plates in total). It is magnificentlyilluminated at night. The dome’s main attraction is themagnificent view of Berlin that it provides from aboveand also its view down to the main conference hall. Thevisitors climb through the dome via two spiral steel rampsthat lead to sightseeing platform at the top, while a largesunshield, which automatically follows the movement ofthe sun, blocks out direct light, which might be uncomfortable.The futuristic design of the dome is a unique visualsolution that symbolizes Berlin’s attempt to eradicate theNazi and communist connotations associated with thecity. The dome is open for tourist visits without advancereservation. Long lines at the entrance, especially duringsummer months, are common. Fourteen years after theopening of the “old-new” building of the German parliamentand twenty-four years after the fall of the BerlinWall, the building that began its existence as an uglyduckling, suffered severely during its “development”, andremained neglected for quite some time, has turned intoa shiny swan-symbol of Germany in the new millennium.