Is this the world's most eye-popping restaurant? The architectural marvel, located in an industrial estate in Leipzig, Germany, is a sight to behold. Perched among old brick buildings, a giant white sphere appears to hover over the corner of a former boiler house. But this isn't just any ordinary restaurant; it's the Niemeyer Sphere, a creation by the world-famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. The Sphere is a vision from the future, dropped into a working-class neighborhood that few tourists would ever pass through by design. It's a testament to Niemeyer's innovative spirit and his commitment to pushing the boundaries of modern architecture. The Sphere has only been open since June 2020, but the journey from idea to inauguration took two decades. Throughout the construction process, photographer Margret Hoppe documented its various elaborate stages. The Spirit of Past Future, an exhibition of her shots, has just opened in the building, also featuring work by Armenian artist Nvard Yerkanian. This exhibition tells the story of modernist architecture, including artful photographs of Bauhaus structures, which Niemeyer found too rules-based, and buildings by Le Corbusier, who employed the young, not-yet-famous Brazilian architect as a draftsman at the beginning of his career. The Niemeyer Sphere crowns that career. Its story begins in 1994, when publicly owned East German companies were being essentially gifted to private buyers. West German entrepreneur Ludwig Koehne bought a heavy machinery factory for the symbolic fee of one Deutsche Mark. He changed its name to Techne Sphere. Koehne envisioned a restaurant on the roof of the two-storey canteen, which could use the existing kitchen's facilities to cook and wash up. In 2007, Koehne took a business trip to Brazil, where he fell in love with Niemeyer's ravishing Brasília buildings. Four years later, Koehne wrote a letter to Niemeyer and went back to Brazil to meet the architect in person. Upon his return, he asked Tibor Herzigkeit, the chef and owner of the canteen, to commit to staying on for at least 10 more years. Herzigkeit agreed. Niemeyer was 103 when he drew the first sketch, a round ball with windows at the top and bottom. When he died a year later, in 2012, he hadn't finalized the design, but left behind a lot of material. Koehne wanted the space to be aesthetically pleasing and physically comfortable, from light to ambience to temperature. To flesh out the original concept, Koehne and executive architect Harald Kern brought in Jair Valera, who had worked as Niemeyer's right-hand man for decades. After more planning, testing, and hiring the right companies, they laid the foundation stone in 2017. The Niemeyer Sphere follows this tradition: white concrete and dark windows by day, with brightly lit windows against shadowy concrete at night. The dimming properties of the glass also protect against glare. 'They're like walk-in sunglasses,' says Koehne. 'As the eyes adjust to the relative darkness of the facade, and the pupils open a little, you see things in the clouds you've never seen. That's part of the experience of spending an evening dining here. You really experience the sky.' Niemeyer always engaged with new technologies, such as when he built the Obra do Berço nursery in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1930s with panels that can move horizontally to open on cooler days, to let sunshine in, and close in the middle of summer, to keep it out. In addition to the Sphere, the factory complex boasts two further art galleries in other buildings and hosts the occasional outdoor concert. The Niemeyer Sphere's opening ceremony included the performance of a cello suite by Johann Sebastian Bach, arguably the city's most famous citizen. Inside, the concrete-and-glass ball has three levels. The bottom, inaccessible to guests, is the technical area. Visitors enter the Sphere on the middle floor and step into a bar serving kombucha and gin. The curved window descends below the floor, with those triangular glass panes appropriately dimmed from a digital device - the same technology used on modern aircraft in lieu of blinds. On the top floor, the pampered guests gather on cushioned designer chairs to enjoy a drink while gazing out over the rooftops. The interior wall displays a drawing by Niemeyer, red lines on a light background, the sort of flourish the architect added to buildings throughout his career. And this, his final project, combines all of his artistic interests, from curves to surprise. 'In this project, Oscar was looking for simplification,' Valera said at the opening. 'This simplification arises not by reducing elements, but through striving for elegance and extraordinary lightness - which are so characteristic of his work.'
