Palais am Funkturm, Entertainment venue in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Germany.
The Palais am Funkturm is a two-storey event hall on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds on Masurenallee, opposite the Haus des Rundfunks. Its south facade is glazed with metal-framed 1950s windows, and the closed wall sections carry coloured glass mosaic in grey, blue, light red and yellow. The upper tier hangs from riveted steel roof trusses on tension rods, so it appears to float.
The Palais am Funkturm was built in 1956/1957 to plans by Bruno Grimmek with Werner Düttmann and Werner Klenke, as part of the Interbau. It was attached to the rear of the 1936 Ehrenhalle (Hall 19) by Richard Ermisch. Foundations for a planned main restaurant had already been laid in 1939, and reconstruction of functional exhibition halls began in 1950 after wartime destruction.
In the 1960s and 1970s the Palais hosted up to 120 balls a year, making it a fixture of West Berlin's social calendar. Today it is used mainly for award ceremonies such as the Deutscher Filmpreis, the German Film Awards.
The Palais seats up to 2,400 guests, and Halls 18 and 20 connect directly to it. A large car park and taxi ranks lie in front of the building on Masurenallee, opposite the Haus des Rundfunks. The two-storey hall has a terrace with an asymmetric water basin and fountains.
The two ceiling openings are easy to miss: a circle 17 metres across and a parabola reaching 17 metres in from the south glass wall, letting visitors see between floors. From the gilded ceiling hang mushroom and drop lamps, and the chandelier can be raised or lowered.
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