Foundation Stone Laid For ESO Headquarters Extension

On 11 June 2012 at 18:00, a ceremony took place at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany, to mark the laying of the foundation stone of a major new extension to the ESO building. A time capsule containing a scroll listing the names of the ESO Council delegates, the latest issue of The ESO Messenger and a copy of a local newspaper for the day was also sealed and placed in the foundations during the ceremony.

The Headquarters extension will feature an office building, a technical building and a covered bridge that will connect the new buildings to the original Headquarters. The buildings will make extensive use of natural light sources and there will be two inner courtyards. This striking and innovative design is in keeping with the current building and retains the same curved shapes. Further details about the building are available here: eso1215.

The new office building, designed by architects Auer+Weber+Assoziierte, will allow ESO to bring all its Garching staff, some of whom are currently in temporary offices or other buildings on the Garching campus, back together on a single site.

The technical building will be a cradle for the technological innovations needed for ESO’s ambitious projects such as the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). It will be a cylindrical structure with a diameter almost matching the size of the 39.3-metre mirror of the E-ELT.

The event coincided with the meeting in Garching of ESO’s governing body, the ESO Council. Representatives of the ESO Member States were present, as well as the President of the ESO Council, Xavier Barcons, the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, the architect and CEO of Auer+Weber+Assoziierte, Philipp Auer, and the ESO Headquarters extension project manager, Christoph Haupt. The mayor of the town of Garching, Ms Hannelore Gabor, and Mr Klaus Zettl, Head of Building and the Environment for Garching Council, also attended.

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory

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