Physikzentrum Bad Honnef being refurbished by DPG
The Physikzentrum Bad Honnef is the conference centre of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG), the German physical society. This meeting place, for scientists from all over the world, is currently being extensively renovated and modernised. The construction, which began in the summer of 2010, will be mostly finished within the coming weeks.
The DPG, with a history extending back to 1845, is the oldest physical society in the world – as well as being the largest, with more than 60,000 members. The Physikzentrum Bad Honnef was founded as a conference centre in 1976 and quickly developed into an internationally prestigious meeting point for physicists – providing a forum for scientific exchange with the availability of meals and lodging.
Nowadays, it houses more than 5,000 guests annually – from all over the world – who participate in week-long seminars and other forms of meetings. The centre – which also accommodates the DPG Head Office – hosts all types, from students to Nobel Prize winning physicists, who come to exchange the results of their research and discuss new scientific challenges. Personal contacts are established and intensified not only in the lecture halls but also during meals; evening sessions, in the charming atmosphere of the wine cellar; or during hiking tours in the picturesque landscape which surrounds Bad Honnef.
The impressive building was originally constructed in 1906, as a school of home economics for girls, and a residential home for elderly ladies. In 2003, a modern lecture hall, with more than 100 seats, was added to the building.
As the next step in our programme of improvements, the guestrooms are being updated to today’s standards; in particular, bathrooms are being added to each guestroom. Furthermore, the construction works are incorporating the installation of an elevator and specially-equipped bathrooms, to ensure wheelchair accessibility; upgrades to the fire prevention system and the creation of additional evacuation routes; improvements to the thermal insulation; and a new heating system.
All of these additions are being undertaken with note of the restrictions concerning monument protection, so that the historical appearance and legacy of this unique building will be maintained.
The construction is going on in parallel with the daily conference business – with the auditoriums and the restaurant being unaffected by the present renovations. As a temporary measure, some guests have had to be accommodated in nearby hotels.
Despite the inconvenience of the work, our guests are already appreciating the modernisation. The investments of the lecture hall and the refurbishment of the historical building will ensure the future of the Physikzentrum as a state-of-the-art conference centre for the coming decades.
