{"id":478179,"date":"2026-02-16T08:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T08:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478179\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T08:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T08:43:07","slug":"is-this-the-worlds-most-eye-popping-restaurant-the-architectural-marvel-in-a-leipzig-industrial-estate-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478179\/","title":{"rendered":"Is this the world\u2019s most eye-popping restaurant? The architectural marvel \u2013 in a Leipzig industrial estate | Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perched among old brick buildings in an industrial neighbourhood of Leipzig in eastern Germany<\/a>, a giant white sphere appears to hover over the corner of a former boiler house. Is it a giant\u2019s golf ball? An alien spacecraft? A fallen planet?<\/p>\n

Twelve metres in diameter, the Niemeyer Sphere is the final design of world-famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer<\/a> and probably the most surprising creation by a visionary who valued the sensation of newness in art above all else, the result being mesmerising buildings that seem both space age and out of this world. The Sphere is like a vision from the future, dropped among used-car dealerships and construction equipment rental outlets, in a working-class neighbourhood that few tourists would ever pass through by design.<\/p>\n

We had this very good cook in the canteen \u2013 and he needed a space to deliver more refined dishes<\/p>\n

The Sphere has only been open since June 2020, when its arrival was barely noticed due to Covid, but the journey from idea to inauguration took two decades. Throughout the construction process, photographer Margret Hoppe documented its various elaborate stages. The Spirit of Past Future, an exhibition of her shots, has just opened in the building, also featuring work by Armenian artist Nvard Yerkanian.<\/p>\n

This exhibition tells the story of modernist architecture, including artful photographs of Bauhaus structures, which Niemeyer found too rules-based, and buildings by Le Corbusier, who employed the young, not-yet-famous Brazilian architect as a draftsman at the beginning of his career. The Niemeyer Sphere crowns that career.<\/p>\n

\u2018Like walk-in sunglasses\u2019 \u2026 the individually crafted liquid crystal glass panels. Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Its story begins in 1994, when publicly owned East German companies were being essentially gifted to private buyers. West German entrepreneur Ludwig Koehne bought a heavy machinery factory for the symbolic fee of one Deutsche Mark. He changed its name to Techne Sphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had this very good cook in the workers\u2019 canteen,\u201d says Koehne. \u201cIt was always clear to me that he needed a space where we could do events and deliver more refined dishes.\u201d Koehne envisioned a restaurant on the roof of the two-storey canteen, which could use the existing kitchen\u2019s facilities to cook and wash up.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Koehne took a business trip to Brazil, where he fell in love with Niemeyer\u2019s ravishing Bras\u00edlia buildings \u2013 from the Palace of the Dawn, the water-fronted modernist residence of the president, to the Cathedral of Bras\u00edlia, a crown-shaped concrete-and-glass wonder that seems to reach for the heavens. Four years later, Koehne wrote a letter to Niemeyer and went back to Brazil to meet the architect in person. Upon his return, he asked Tibor Herzigkeit \u2013 the chef and owner of the canteen \u2013 to commit to staying on for at least 10 more years. Herzigkeit agreed.<\/p>\n

Niemeyer\u2019s genius \u2026 the Niter\u00f3i Contemporary Art Museum in Rio de Janiero. Photograph: Donatas Dabravolskas\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Niemeyer was 103 when he drew the first sketch, a round ball with windows at the top and bottom. When he died a year later, in 2012, he hadn\u2019t finalised the design, but left behind a lot of material. \u201cIt had to be true to his spirit,\u201d says Koehne. \u201cIt\u2019s a great honour to get such a nice drawing, as a small company with just old rooftops to play with. And I really felt obliged to do it because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To flesh out the original concept, Koehne and executive architect Harald Kern brought in Jair Valera, who had worked as Niemeyer\u2019s right-hand man for decades. After more planning, testing and hiring the right companies, they laid the foundation stone in 2017. Structural engineering, construction and materials each presented their own challenges, but the south-west-facing windows posed a huge conundrum. Koehne wanted the space to be aesthetically pleasing and physically comfortable, from light to ambience to temperature. \u201cThe fear of getting overheated in summer was very high,\u201d says Kern. The team sought \u201cinvisible shading that goes with the Niemeyer architecture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Merck, the company behind the windows, developed the technology while the rest of the project unfolded. Their liquid crystal glass was not ready until 2019, at which point the company individually crafted each of the unique 144 triangular panes which, says Kern, can be dimmed from \u201ca nice and neutral soft gray to a nearly dark black\u201d.<\/p>\n

Water-fronted wonder \u2026 the Palace of the Dawn in Bras\u00edlia. Photograph: Evaristo Sa\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Niemeyer, in his acceptance speech<\/a> for the prestigious Pritzker prize in 1988, said: \u201cA concern for beauty, a zest for fantasy, and an ever-present element of surprise, bear witness that today\u2019s architecture is not a minor craft bound to straight-edge rules, but imbued with technology: light, creative and unfettered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Challenging the wisdom that buildings should function like machines, Niemeyer pioneered the use of curves and rounded shapes, taking inspiration from natural surroundings. The circular cathedral\u2019s interior, which can hold 4,000 people, has 16 white concrete columns that curve in and then out, holding up a glass ceiling.<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, concrete and glass remained Niemeyer\u2019s signature materials: stained-glass windows fill the spaces between the columns in river-like swaths of blue and green, surrounded by panes in lighter shades. Despite the weight of these materials, Niemeyer consistently produced an illusion of lightness or even floating.<\/p>\n

Revered worldwide \u2026 Niemeyer in his office at the age of 95. Photograph: Reuter\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

The Niemeyer Sphere follows this tradition: white concrete and dark windows by day, with brightly lit windows against shadowy concrete at night. The dimming properties of the glass also protect against glare. \u201cThey\u2019re like walk-in sunglasses,\u201d says Koehne. \u201cAs the eyes adjust to the relative darkness of the facade, and the pupils open a little, you see things in the clouds you\u2019ve never seen. That\u2019s part of the experience of spending an evening dining here. You really experience the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niemeyer always engaged with new technologies, such as when he built the Obra do Ber\u00e7o nursery in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1930s with panels that can move horizontally to open on cooler days, to let sunshine in, and close in the middle of summer, to keep it out. Valera and Kern believe Niemeyer would have liked these liquid crystals, which offer much the same functionality in a sleeker design.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Sphere, the factory complex boasts two further art galleries in other buildings and hosts the occasional outdoor concert. The Niemeyer Sphere\u2019s opening ceremony included the performance of a cello suite by Johann Sebastian Bach, arguably the city\u2019s most famous citizen.<\/p>\n

Space age \u2026 the National Museum of the Republic in Bras\u00edlia. Photograph: AGB Photo Library\/Universal Images Group\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Inside, the concrete-and-glass ball has three levels. The bottom, inaccessible to guests, is the technical area. Visitors enter the Sphere on the middle floor and step into a bar serving kombucha and gin. The curved window descends below the floor, with those triangular glass panes appropriately dimmed from a digital device \u2013 the same technology used on modern aircraft in lieu of blinds.<\/p>\n

On the top floor, the pampered guests gather on cushioned designer chairs to enjoy a drink while gazing out over the rooftops. The interior wall displays a drawing by Niemeyer, red lines on a light background, the sort of flourish the architect added to buildings throughout his career. And this, his final project, combines all of his artistic interests, from curves to surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this project, Oscar was looking for simplification,\u201d Valera said at the opening. \u201cThis simplification arises not by reducing elements, but through striving for elegance and extraordinary lightness \u2013 which are so characteristic of his work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spirit of Past Future<\/a> is at Techne Sphere Leipzig until 22 March<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perched among old brick buildings in an industrial neighbourhood of Leipzig in eastern Germany, a giant white sphere…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-478179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}