Relocating the Kaisersaal

The new Sony-Center at Potsdamer Platz is one of the more prominent building projects underway in Berlin. Within this modern office facility, a graceful reminder of Berlin's past, the ornate reception room, the Kaisersaal - often used by the turn-of-the-century emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II - has found a new home. At its original location, the Kaisersaal stood in the path of the Sony-Center project and planned new streets. The architects elected to integrate the room into the new complex, albeit some distance from where it stood. Therefore, the Kaisersaal had to be moved, and this "simple" goal required some inventive engineering solutions.