Fernsehturm Stuttgart, Television tower in Degerloch, Germany
Fernsehturm Stuttgart is a 216.6-metre reinforced concrete tower on the Hoher Bopser hill in Stuttgart. Its slender cylindrical shaft carries a rounded basket with two observation decks and a café, topped by a thinner mast with antennas and red-and-white equipment. The tower stands among trees and was the first telecommunications tower built from reinforced concrete.
Fritz Leonhardt developed the plans after the Second World War to meet growing demand for television broadcasting across the region, with construction taking place between 1954 and 1956. His approach set new benchmarks for broadcast towers and led to the spread of similar concrete structures around the world in the following decades.
Engineers and architects from around the world studied this structure when it opened, as its slim reinforced concrete shaft introduced a new way to build tall towers without steel frameworks. Visitors today walk through spaces that once sparked a wave of similar designs across Europe, Asia, and Africa during the following decades.
Two elevators run at 5 m/s to the two observation decks, the lower at 150 m and the upper at 153.5 m. The tower closed on 27 March 2013 for a fire-safety review and reopened on 30 January 2016 with a refurbished entrance and shop area. The Panorama Café sits on the basket platform.
Three rotating xenon lamps above the observation deck shine at night like a lighthouse and serve as a navigation aid for aircraft. The restaurant at 145 meters (476 feet) rotates slowly and completes a full turn in roughly 48 minutes, allowing diners to see the entire panorama during a meal.
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