christ & gantenbein . + new National Museum
The completion of the new National Museum Zurich will be marked with an opening ceremony led by Swiss Federal Councillor Alain Berset and a 26-hour celebration for the general public on the weekend of 1 August, kicking off at 6.00 p.m. on Sunday, 31 July.
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With its New Wing, which has taken around 15 years to plan and build, Zurich’s popular cultural history museum now offers flexible exhibition spaces and cuttingedge infrastructure. With its 80-centimetre-thick walls, the new extension is the first museum building in Switzerland to meet the Minergie-Eco-P standard. This wing, which was designed by Christ & Gantenbein, connects with Gustav Gull’s original building to form a single whole, so visitors touring the exhibitions can now make their way seamlessly through the new ensemble. The tuff stone used in the façade of the old building is incorporated into the facade of the New Wing, whose polished concrete floors are a contemporary take on the terrazzo floors in the old building. The two buildings meet to form an inner courtyard, which opens out onto the park. One of the highlights of the interior is the grand staircase, flanked by round windows that direct the visitors’ gaze out towards the park’s historic collection of trees.
