The site for the Museum of the 20th Century is in direct proximity to Berlin’s Pots- damer Platz on the ‘Kulturforum’, Berlin’s collection of post-war cultural buildings. Situated between Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie and Hans Scharoun’s Berlin Philharmonie, the museum will display internationally acclaimed works of art from the last century, stemming from the archives of significant Berlin institutions and collections. The Museum of the 20th Century rearranges the relationship of the freestanding buildings and completes them to create a coherent, urban ensemble. A tree-lined avenue and a colonnade, running parallel in a north-south direction, give structure as new axes to the urban surroundings of the Kulturforum. The colonnade frames the museum on three sides and creates a connection to the Philharmonie. Its structure of offset, vertical glass openings creates an interplay between open and closed areas, reminiscent of an avenue.
_
The tripartite composition of the building evokes the volume of the neighbouring St. Matthäus Church. Garden courtyards structure the building, creating multiple entrances to the foyer at the ground floor level of the higher central nave. The bright, elongated foyer space creates a visual relationship through its generous façade openings between the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Philharmonie. The vertical cir- culation takes place in the two adjacent spaces, which are naturally lit from above and stretch through all three public floors. The tripartite arrangement is also reflected in the lower exhibition level, where differently proportioned rooms create a diverse sequence of spaces. The exhibition tour culminates on the upper floor in a high- ceilinged space designated for art installations. Naturally lit areas, which underline the concrete materiality of the shell construction, provide an atmospheric enrichment to the artificial lighting.
Public facilities, such as the café and restaurant, activate Scharounplatz, a square with water basins, situated between the new museum and the Philharmonie. The lower volumes along Potsdamer Straße have roof-top sculpture gardens, echoing the terrace landscape of the Neue Nationalgalerie’s plinth. The two-tier façade, with its outer layer of glass panes, continues the materiality of the colonnade is both veiling and permeable. It underlines the simple stereometry of the volumes. The horizontal monumentality gives the building visibility within the urban surroundings without detracting from the symbolic presence of the remarkable examples of post-war modernism.
Berlin, Germany 2016
_
Competition 2016
Gross floor area 28,400 m2
Client Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
User Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Architect David Chipperfield Architects Berlin
Partner David Chipperfield, Martin Reichert, Alexander Schwarz (Design lead)
Project architect Annette Flohrschütz
Landscape architect Wirtz International nv
Quantity surveyor BAL Bauplanungs und Steuerungs GmbH David
Renderings Chipperfield Architects
Model Photo © Ute Zscharnt for David Chipperfield Architects
