Funkturm Berlin - Building Method

Building Method

The tower is built as one large steel framework construction, similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The 150 m high and approximately 600 metric ton radio tower was originally planned strictly as a transmitting tower, but later additions included a restaurant at a height of approximately 52 m, and observation deck at a height of approximately 125 m. Visitors reach the restaurant and the observation deck by an elevator which travels up to 6 meters per second.

The radio tower has two very notable structural characteristics. First, it sits on a square surface area merely 20 meters to a side. Its ratio of surface area to height is 1:6.9. For comparison, the Eiffel Tower sits on a square 129 meters to a side, giving surface-area-to-height ratio of 1:2.3. Second, the radio tower is probably the only observation tower in the world standing on porcelain insulators. It was designed as the support tower for a T-antenna for medium wave, and the insulators were intended to prevent the drain of the transmitting power down through the tower itself. However, this was impractical, because visitors would have been vulnerable to massive electric shocks, so the tower was later grounded via its elevator shaft. The insulators used were manufactured in the Koeniglich Preussische Porzellanmanufaktur (Royal Prussian Porcelain Factory).

On March 22, 1935, the first regular television program in the world was broadcast from an aerial on the top of the tower. Since 1962, the tower is no longer used for TV transmissions. Since 1973, the radio tower no longer serves as a regular transmission tower for broadcasting purposes, but it is still used as relay station for amateur radio, police radio, and mobile phone services. The last complete renovation took place in the year 1987 in honor of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin.