Our 2026 Summer Party

Architecture at the interface of science, technology and infrastructure – this year’s Summer Party took us to the construction site of the FAIR particle accelerator in Darmstadt, where we were able to experience the extraordinary scale of the project first-hand. Colleagues based at the site led us in groups across the construction site, which covers a gross floor area of 162,000 m² – where some 1,350 large bored piles stabilise the ground – through the 1.1-kilometre-long ring accelerator tunnel, past walls and ceilings up to nine metres thick. We then rounded off the day in the courtyard of the Massif Central in Frankfurt, where this group photo was taken.