main railway station

dresden's main railway terminus, built between 1892 and 1898 to a design by ernst giese and paul weidner, is the third largest in eastern germany after berlin and leipzig. it is also one of the most impressive late-nineteenth-century railway stations in europe. linking dresden with berlin and prague, the railway played a significant role in the city's industrial and economic growth in the first half of the twentieth century. but during World War II the station also was badly damaged. in the post-war period it was poorly maintained and finally reached a state where remedial conservation was required. the redevelopment has been started with the competition in 1997, where foster & partners came off as winner, the construction period has been lasting from 2001 until now. the first element of this redevelopment to be carried out was the reconstruction of the 30,000-square-metre roof, a task made more urgent by the degraded and unsafe state of the old steelwork. the entire structure has now been restored to its original condition and sheathed in a translucent skin of teflon-coated glass fibre, produced by skyspan europe gmbh (rimsting am chiemsee). this new roof transmits 13 per cent of daylight and significantly reduces the stations reliance on artificial lighting.