The Berlin Castle will be built according to the design of architect Stella

Berlin - The construction of the Berlin City Palace, which is to replace the communist Palace of the Republic, has today taken on specific outlines. The jury composed of experts and politicians officially selected the winner of the architectural competition today, which was the little-known Italian professor of architecture Francesco Stella. The palace will be located on the site of the original residence of the Prussian kings and later German emperors, but it will not be merely a copy.
    The original palace was, until its destruction at the end of World War II, a dominant feature of Berlin and its largest building. Three of the four original baroque facades from the Hohenzollern palace, which was definitively leveled in 1950, should be incorporated into the restored palace.
    According to the concept approved by the Federal Assembly back in 2002, architects may only modify the eastern side of the palace according to their imagination. Construction is expected to begin in 2010 and should last three years. The costs amount to 552 million euros (approximately 14 billion crowns).
    The building, with a usable area of 40,000 square meters, is to host the so-called Humboldt Forum, a cultural and scientific institution with museum collections, scientific archives from Humboldt University, and a library.
    The jury that selected the winning project included the ministers of infrastructure and culture Wolfgang Tiefensee and Bernd Neumann, as well as renowned architects David Chipperfield, Vittorio Lampugnani, and Hans-Günter Merz.
    City representative Regula Lüscher welcomed the jury's decision. "The winning design by Francesco Stella is an example of a convincing restoration of the former palace, as there is continuity between the facade and the interior organization,” the juror said.
    From the future construction site, the last remnants of the former Palace of the Republic still stand, which housed a concert hall, the East German parliament, restaurants, and galleries. Due to asbestos contamination, the gradual demolition has been ongoing for over two years.