This is a list of special architectural attractions open to the public - places you might want to go to purely for their archiectural content. They are individual buildings of significant interest which you can enter and enjoy. We are not, however, attempting a comprehensive tourist guide and galleries and the like (with serious architectural content) will be added as a second level of information.

The UK is listed first.

United Kingsdom / Austria / Belgium / Czech Republic / France / Germany / Italy / Netherlands / Scandinavia / Spain / Switzerland /
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GERMANY
Walter Gropius /> Bauhaus Dessau, 1926, Dessau

Gropiusallee 38 - 06846 Dessau
T: +49 340 650 80
F: +49 340 650 82 26
E: besuch@bauhaus-dessau.de
W: www.bauhaus-dessau.de
Opening hours: daily 10:00am-6:00pm - Exhibitions
daily 10:00am-6:00pm

 The Bauhaus occupies a place of its own in the history of 20th century culture, architecture, design, art and new media. "The building is the ultimate goal of all fine art”, the Bauhaus manifesto proclaimed back in 1919. One of the first colleges of design, it brought together a number of the most outstanding contemporary architects and artists and was not only an innovative training center but also a place of production and a focus of international debate.
Hans Scharoun  Philharmonie Concert Hall, 1956-63, Berlin
Mathaikirchstrafe 1 - Tiergarten - 10785 Berlin A typical product of the Expressionist movement and of organic architecture, this concert hall in which the audience is seated around the orchestra was worked out in accordance with the laws of acoustics. Hans Scharoun's most finished work, rejects both rectangular organization and symmetry. Its curved roofs and ceilings are reminiscent of some vast nomad tent. External appearance has here been subordinated to the requirements of the interior, so don't be put off by the exterior.
Including Mies van Der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Bruno Taut Weissenhof Siedlung, 1926-1927, Berlin
Am Weissenhof 20 - 70191 Stuttgart
T: +49 (0) 711-2 57 91 87
E: anja_kraemer@t-online.de
W: www.weissenhof.de & www.weissenhofsiedlung.de
Opening hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10:00am-2:00pm - Sunday 10:00am-3:00pm

The Weißenhofsiedlung, which was built on the Killesberg in Stuttgart in 1927, is one of the best examples for the art of the "new architecture" in Germany.
With the art director, Mies van der Rohe, 17 architects from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland created a model housing programme for the modern urbanite. Within no more than 21 weeks, 21 houses containing 63 flats were constructed. The settlement is not an organically grown structure, it is part of the exhibition "Die Wohnung" ("The flat") organised by the German Werkbund in 1927. The white stuccoed, flat-roofed buildings were designed by men who would later become well-known: Peter Behrens, Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Oud and Le Corbusier. Weissenhof soon achieved fame - some would say, notoriety - and was generally taken to be the first public exhibition of what was later called 'International Style'.

Daniel Libeskind   Jewish Museum, Berlin

Lindenstr. 9- 14
10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg
Tel.: +49- (0)30- 25 99 33 00
Fax : +49- (0)30- 25 99 34 400

Tu-Su: 10a.m. - 8p.m.
Mo 10a.m.-10 p.m.
Mo: Buffet and Klezmer music
Closed on Jewish public holidays
Rosch Haschana and Yom Kippur

Admission Adults: 5,00EUR
AConcessions: 2,50EUR
Admission children: 0,00EUR
family ticket (2 adults and up to 4 children) Adults: ? 10,00EUR

There is something obsecene about going here just for the architectural design, but Libeskind manages such a fluid marriage between form and content that one can go there simply to admire the design dimension of a horric topic. In a formalistic sense there are two things to note: the emotional tone of the spaces and places he has created; and the poetic, narrative basis of the formalism: a map of berlin that has lines drawn upon it, linkling germans who associated with Jews before the war, and thereby drawing attention to a missing dimension of Berlin's cultural history.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel Altes Museum
Bodestr. 1-3 ,
Mitte 10178
S3 S4 S6 S9 Hackescher Markt
Open: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm
Admission: varies, depending on current exhibitions
Tel: 030 - 20 90 55 66 		This was the first Royal Museum, originally built to house royal art treasures for public viewing, and opened in 1830. Schinkel's grand entry rotunda is based on the Roman Pantheon and is the most renowned example of Berlin Classicism. But it is the 'bloody-minded' facade that is both so elegant and demanding of one's attention. Go to the Pergamon while you are in this area for a bit of ne-classicism being updated by a host of contemporary architects master-planned by David Chipperfield.
Walter Gropius Bauhaus Archiv-Museum, Berlin

Tiergarten 10785
Open: Wed-Mon 10am-5pm, Library with Bauhaus documents Mon-Fri 9am-1pm
Admission: DM 7.80, DM 3.90 concs
Tel: 030 - 2 54 00 20

Artefacts from the Bauhaus School movement of the 1920s - until 1933 - designed by architect Walter Gropius (see Gropius Museum) including sculpture, photography, design, furniture and paintings by Klee, Kandinsky and other limelights of the golden pre-Nazi days. Tips: Good Library with Bauhaus documents. Good cafeteria.
English available: Computer exhibition gives good background context to Bauhaus movement.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Tiergarten 10785
U1 Kurfüstenstrasse,U+S Potsdamer Platz, or a 15 minute walk from the Grand Hyatt Hotel and Potsdamer Platz
Open: Tue-Fri 10am-8pm, Thu opened until 10pm, Sat/Sun 10am-6pm
Admission: DM 8, DM 4 concs.
Tel: 030 - 20 90 55 66 		Designed in the 1960s by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who returned to Berlin from exile for this commission, to create a modern temple of art in steel and glass. The Museum today houses 20th century German and international painting.
Gunther Benisch Library, Eichstatt

 

 This library sat within a meadow in a tiny university town south east of munich is one of the public and modern highlights of this otherwise baroque town. After seeing the library you can poke around looking for work by Karl Josef Schattner.