The 360° Panorama is a new and extraordinary attraction in Konstanz and the Lake Constance region, not only because of Yadegar Asisi’s large-scale image. The enveloping, 52-metre-high exhibition building also stands out as a distinctive landmark at the western entrance to the city. Inside, the 360° Panorama invites visitors on an immersive journey back in time to late-medieval Konstanz during the great church council that took place between 1414 and 1418. At the same time, the building stands out as a striking polychrome sculpture within the contemporary urban landscape.

A façade in motion

The Panorama is located within the approach ramp to the cross-border Europa Bridge. Before or after crossing the river, as one ascends the spiral ramp towards the bridge, one experiences the Panorama’s façade up close, with its folded surfaces and colour fields oscillating between warm and cool tones. In contrast to the naturalistic scenery inside the building, here one is presented with an abstract composition that suggests the structures of the horizon, the city and the landscape, while playing with the impression of accelerating mechanical rhythms and varying speeds. The building appears as a dynamic, ever-changing object.

A double panorama

Upon entering the building, visitors first arrive in a spacious foyer with a cloakroom, café and museum shop. Passing through an exhibition area that recounts the history of the Council of Konstanz, they enter the Panorama Room, measuring more than 30 metres in height and 36 metres in diameter. A lookout towert in the centre of the hall offers a 360-degree panoramic view of the painted panorama from several levels. Having reached the top level of this tower via the stairs or the lift, visitors are treated to an impressive view across the entire medieval city. Here, the building becomes a theatrical machine, visually receding into the background – the focus is on the large-scale image, which, accompanied by an atmospheric installation of light and sound, evokes the events of 6 July 1415.
Located above the panorama room are flexible event and exhibition spaces. Finally, at a height of 47 metres, a restaurant with a bar and roof terrace offers a contemporary take on the panorama, with views over Konstanz, Lake Constance and the Alps.

Timber construction on a new scale

These extraordinary spatial experiences are made possible thanks to an innovative hybrid timber structure that spans the Panorama Room entirely column-free. Above the two base storeys made of in-situ concrete, glulam columns and timber beams form a continuous timber frame structure supporting a nearly circular timber-concrete composite slab with an underspanned structure, resembling an inverted dome. The structure allowed for a reduction in the amount of concrete used and the associated CO₂ emissions; a high degree of prefabrication in the timber structure helped shorten the construction time.

A place about and for the city

The Panorama brings together art, architecture and engineering in a work that engages with the city in two ways: as an introverted exhibition space and as an extroverted city landmark. It mediates between history and the present, between the city and the landscape around Lake Constance.