Exilmuseum extension selected proposal by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos for the competiton won by Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter.
Von Schwelle zu Schwelle, (From threshold to threshold), quoting the book by Paul Celan, the German-language poet who also suffered exile, is metaphorically the motto of our proposal. In fact, the central idea of the project is the transition or the threshold.
Faced with the need to reconstruct the urban, spatial and historical discontinuities of the site, the concept of transition initiates and guides the entire process: transition between interior and exterior, between the ruin and the museum, but also between different historical times and construction techniques.
The ruin of the portal to the old Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin becomes a visual, but also conceptual and compositional reference for our project. The image of the ruins, so evocative for German romanticism, recalls the destructive force of time and history, but also the power of architecture in the reconstruction of the future. The freestanding portal not only reminds us of the train station that disappeared, but also turns into a trigger for the design of the new museum. Architectural images evoke memories, feelings and associations that we are not always aware of.
In that sense, we are not referring only to the memory of the old Anhalter Bahnhof, but, paradoxically, to those intermediate states when the semi- demolished station was still in use in the post-war period, or even when, once disappeared, the resulting terrain vague was the scene of artistic performances and cinematographic sequences already printed in our memory.
The proposed architecture becomes, in a way, a neutral background for the portal ruin. A long raised rectangular volume that seems to levitate above the ground is organized around the two axes, North-South and East-West that already ordered the old railway station. Pointing out the orientations, four new portals are the formal and structural support of a building that also indicates the multiple directions that those who suffered exile had to take.
The museum entrance at Askanischer Platz takes place after crossing the portal ruin, which is detached from the new building. Once inside, a spacious, column-free lobby becomes a central gathering space with information and ticketing areas, the shop, bistro, and temporary exhibition room. The multifunctional hall is located in the west corner, with a separate entrance and complementary services. The Raum des Ortes has been integrated into the museum hall. A large circular ring with audiovisual devices and projections will inform about the history of the place. This wide circular void overlooks the lower floor, where the conference room and educational areas are visually connected to the lobby. Finally, the auxiliary sports spaces are located in the basement, with independent access from the east gate.
The upper floor is entirely dedicated to permanent exhibition spaces. After ascending a wide staircase, the visitor reaches the heart of the museum, the Bioscope, which has been conceived as a suspended box, surrounded on its perimeter by skylights that introduce natural light into the lobby. All routes converge in this central room, from where the portal ruin is always present. The itinerary of the exhibition respects the museum concept, allowing visitors to experience the stations of exile in a clear and linear sequence of nine thematic rooms. The quiet intermediate areas between these spaces allow a view of the surroundings. A second so-called Path of Experience provides a quick visit through six cabinets, independently of the main itinerary.
The material of the exterior facades deserves a special mention, not only because it conveys the image of the building, but also because it represents a dialogue with the memory of the place. The palette is reduced to three main materials: the glass on the ground floor shows its public character and its relationship with the city, the concrete gates mark the four cardinal points on which the building rests, while the brick facade of the exhibition level relates to the damaged walls of the old station. Different types of bricks vary in size, color and texture and are arranged in bands and perforations reminiscent of the portal walls. The museum will thus be characterized by the continuity of a traditional material, which is contemporary in its construction technique, while recalling the memory of the Anhalter Bahnhof.
The Exile museum will remember the memory of the Anhalter Bahnhof, which becomes not only a silent fragment of the past, but a transition, both architectural and metaphorical, that connects, from threshold to threshold, history and the present.
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