Kulturpalast Dresden
The Kulturpalast in Dresden. One of the most impressive examples of East German modernism, it opened in 1969 and is perhaps best known for its large mosaic ‘Der Weg der roten Fahne,’ which is increasingly being covered up by trees because communism bad! As the name suggests, it’s a ‘Palace of Culture.’
I tried to keep the model as faithful to the initial design as possible. The building was renovated in the 2010s and certain aspects of the original were removed or replaced. Large sections of the granite base are now glass, as are the side entrances, which used to have wooden doors with musical notes on them. Thankfully, someone took close-up photos of these doors before they mysteriously disappeared.
The massive trapezoid monstrosity on the roof was made of copper, presumably with the idea that it would oxidize over time to match the green roofs of some of the other historic buildings in Dresden’s ‘Old Town.’ An oxidized version is available in the attached skin pack. I wanted to give the lamps on the roof proper light beams, but after wasting an afternoon trying to find the right balance and messing around with the coordinates, I decided that it was too much of a hassle and gave up.
