The author is an architect and a former president of the Korea National University of Arts.
In 1911, Albert Einstein proposed the basic idea that would later develop into the general theory of relativity. He suggested that light passing near the sun would bend under the influence of the sun's mass. Six years later, astrophysicist Erwin Freundlich commissioned architect Erich Mendelsohn to design an experimental facility to test this prediction.
After four years of planning and fundraising, construction began, and the building was completed in 1924. The structure became known as Einstein Tower.

The building itself functions almost like a scientific instrument. It consists of an elongated base and a five-story central tower. At the top, a rotating dome collects sunlight. Through a system of mirrors, the light is directed vertically to an objective lens in the base. It is then projected horizontally into a spectrographic laboratory where the spectrum of the light can be analyzed.
Scientists expected the spectrographic experiment to confirm whether light bends near the sun as predicted by Einstein's theory. In reality, however, turbulence on the solar surface and other observational difficulties made precise measurements impossible.
Even so, the building's form proved revolutionary. The entire structure is shaped with flowing curves, making it resemble a ship cutting through waves or an airplane preparing for takeoff. It is widely regarded as a representative work of Expressionist architecture created after numerous attempts to visually express the mystery of relativity.
Mendelsohn was well versed in the most advanced scientific and artistic ideas of his time. The design combined elements from Wassily Kandinsky's spiritual abstraction, the fascination with speed and energy in Futurism and the organic flexibility of German Art Nouveau.
The building was originally planned as a reinforced concrete structure to achieve its fluid form. Because of technological limitations and shortages of materials at the time, however, the design was changed to brick masonry. Curved surfaces were shaped with plaster and finished with sprayed cement so that the building would appear to be concrete.
Because the structural change was not fully reflected in the design, cracks and water leakage appeared soon after completion, requiring frequent repairs. Despite these flaws, the tower remains renowned as an architectural work expressing Einstein's ideas about the distortion and curvature of space and time. The tower stands on Potsdam's Telegrafenberg hill, where several scientific institutes are located. In 1999 the area was reorganized as Einstein Science Park, combining research facilities with a site open to visitors.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

Einstein Tower: Architecture inspired by relativity