The first purpose-built buildings. The MPI of Biochemistry
1956
Photo: The Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry shortly after completion, Archives of the Max Planck Society.
The new building erected for the Institute of Biochemistry in 1956 was one of the first construction projects of the new MPG, along with the facilities built for the MPI for Physics (Munich, 1958) and the MPI for Biology (Tübingen, 1951). The former Kaiser Wilhelm Institute had been relocated from Berlin to Tübingen in 1943, where it took up its provisional home at the university. Director Adolf Butenandt managed to get the Institute relocated to Munich, where it moved into a brand new, purpose-built building. This is an example of the Society’s expansion phase in the post-war era characterized by the sober pragmatism of the 1950s.