Futurium – The House of Futures in Berlin

The Futurium, or “House of Futures”, is located right in the heart of Berlin, between the central station and the Reichstag building on the Kapelle bank. It showcases and promotes dialogue on science and innovation with its wide range of exhibitions, lectures and engagement events hosted in a 3,200 square metre exhibition space. This is made possible through the support of partners from the world of science, industry and foundations. The Futurium's events and exhibitions are designed to make it one of the leading platforms for the debate on the opportunities and risks of scientific and technological progress.

The building designed by Berlin architects Richter Musikowski, started construction in March 2015 through the Institute for Federal Real Estate and its private partner BAM Deutschland AG. The official key handover ceremony was in September 2017, after just two and a half years of construction.

As a nearly zero-energy building, the Futurium meets the requirements for Sustainable Building's (BNB) criteria for Gold Standard buildings. In receiving a score of 89.8 percent, the Futurium has become one of Germany’s most sustainable federal buildings. The designs of the Futurium allow it to run on sustainable energy.

The opening ceremony of the Futurium, the “Futures Festival”, ran from 6 to 9 September 2019. Throughout the festivities, nearly 30,000 visitors took advantage of the invitation to attend talks and debates on the visions of the future as well as trying out their own ideas in the “Futurium Lab”.

PD supported the construction project from its design stage in 2009 right through to its completion. As the project’s manager and economic advisor, PD organised and implemented the project’s entire European-wide procurement procedure. After awarding the contract, PD took over the responsibility of managing and controlling the construction project.

Specifically including:

• Managing the entire project, including the organisation and management of all associated talks
• Acting as the central point of contact for all parties involved
• Developing the financing model
• Provisioning of economic advice
• Devising the tender documents and assuming responsibility for the negotiations with tenderers in collaboration with the BImA, the future operator, the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR), as well as technical and legal advisors.
• Carrying out the final Economic Feasibility Study
• Provisioning support during the planning and construction phase

The Futurium is PD’s second federal building project that is setting standards in sustainable construction and operation. The adjacent building, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which was also project-managed by PD, also received the award for the BNB’s Gold Standard certificate.