ESO headquarters extension in Germany inaugurated

The official inauguration ceremony for the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) new buildings took place on December 4th. Two new structures were inaugurated, including an office building and a technical building, maintaining the same architectural style as the original headquarters, built in 1980. Both buildings are considered "green buildings": they have a much lower energy consumption than is usual for similar buildings and a heating system that uses water heated by geothermal energy.

In the shape of a cylinder, the diameter of the technical building is similar to the 39 meters of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The new space will make it possible to test new instruments and technological innovations, contributing to the development of the research campus in Garching bei München. It will also house one of the world's largest digital archives of astronomical data.

The national company TurboConstroi was responsible for the construction of a substantial part of the building, executing the reinforced concrete structure of these new facilities, in a contract worth around 1 million euros. The new buildings were designed by architects Auer+Weber+Assoziierte and the construction was carried out by BAM Deutschland AG.