The Charlottenburg campus is the heart of PTB’s Berlin Institute. It consists of two squares bordered by the following streets: Marchstraße, Fraunhoferstraße, Kohlrauschstraße and Guerickestraße. It was possible to avoid splitting the site by integrating a part of Abbestraße into the Institute’s campus. Today, the historical buildings accommodate − just like the newly erected ones − modern measurement rooms with the highest-quality equipment for the tasks of the departments.
The Charlottenburg campus consists of the original site of the historical Imperial Physical Technical Institute (PTR) near Marchstraße and its four extensions which were added to the original site at different times in the past. The ensemble of buildings is designated as a historic site. The oldest building on the Charlottenburg campus is the Observatory, the world’s first laboratory building erected especially for physics. This building, designed by Paul Emmanuel Spieker and Theodor Astfalck, was dedicated in 1895 and extensively restored in 2012. To the west, the campus is rounded off by the Hermann von Helmholtz Building. Just like the restored hall of the former Arbeitsschutzmuseum (Industrial Safety Museum) built in 1903, the Observatory is a historic monument on its own. Today it accommodates modern measurement laboratories and a representative lecture hall.
Whereas on the one hand, we endeavour to uphold the tradition of our historical site, we aim to develop, on the other hand, a modern, highly functional scientific campus that has a specific identity of its own.