Living in Berlin gets one – at least for european standards – quite adjusted to constant changes of the cityscape which are not always accompanied by thought-through inventions: Latest highlights which might more likely evoke the impression that one just visits a huge consumer park – supported by background views of major spots of the city skyline – are the pink dots at the TV tower, big sneakers on the new lawn behind the unfinished main station, a gigantic pill behind the Reichstag, a car replica in front of the Brandenburger Tor … etc.. (images via flickr here).
In so far it is nice to learn that a so called Berlin Brain exsists too – eventhough metropolismag describes it as a thought bubble …

A striking glass-and-steel structure reminiscent of Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes, the library is located in the center of campus…..

… “Originally we had book racks going four stories up into the air, where you’d be sitting on this mountain of books,” Behling says. “We realized the perfect solution was some kind of monk cell–something more abstract, timeless, and contemplative. That’s when we came up with the idea of a wide parachute or balloon that would wrap over the whole thing.” The building combines a concrete structural mass with a curved translucent double-layered skin that dramatically diffuses daylight and naturally ventilates the space…

Slices through the Brain A series of plans for each floor of the library, culminating in a rendering of the domelike roof. (more images here)