On Vacation Guide Book Berlin | Page 32

3 . B E R L I N T O W E R T V PANORAMASTRASSE 1A In the early 1950s , the German Democratic Republic planned to build a new facility in Berlin intended primarily for the broadcast of GDR television programmes . Initially , a location in the Müggelberge hills was considered . Once outbuildings had been built there , the Ministry of the Interior realised that the broadcasting station would lie in the approach path of the planned Schönefeld Airport . In the 1960s , the GDR government arranged to have the TV Tower built at its current location , with the aim of demonstrating the strength and efficiency of the socialist system in mind . Today the Tower defines the silhouette of Germany ’ s capital city – a symbol of the reunified Germany , just like the Brandenburg Gate . The original design of the slender Tower soaring skywards was devised by the GDR architect Hermann Henselmann . The sphere of the TV Tower was intended to remind people of the Soviet sputnik satellites and was to light up red , the colour of socialism . Only one method the Tower . This is The internal steel external concrete steel frame . was considered for constructing known as “ climbing formwork ”. frame grew more quickly than the shaft , which was built around the Mounting the sphere at a height of 200 m presented the engineers with a challenge . The load - bearing steel frame of the sphere was initially precast on the ground . The segments were heaved up using cranes and then secured on the circular platform which forms the final section of the concrete shaft .