Kulturforum
Location: Berlin, Germany
Type: museum
Phase: graduation project, Eline Degenaar, TU Delft Msc 2016/17
Tutors: Prof. D.J. Rosbottom, Sam de Vocht, Sereh Mandias
Gross Floor Area: 15.000 m²
Culture and climate differ all over the world, but people are the same. They’ll gather in public if you give them a good place to do it (1).
The assignment was to design a new national museum of Germany for 20th century art, which will form an extension to the Neue National Gallery at the Kulturforum in Berlin. This assignment was a real competition in which almost 800 firms participated. For the first time in decades, this newly created museum complex will enable to exhibit the full German national collection of 20th century art so far only presented in parts, to be presented ass a whole in one building. The program together with the location raised all kinds of questions. What does it mean that this museum will be located between two of Germany’s most renowned architectural landmarks, the Neue National Gallery from Mies van der Rohe and das Philharmonie from Hans Sharoun? And what does it mean that this museum is a national museum, a museum owned indirect by the citizens of Germany? A big part of my research focused on understanding the social and architectural processes that shaped the location. My research resulted in the following design proposal which exists out of two very clear architectural typologies: a large scale building block facing the busy four lane Potsdamer straße in which all public accessible functions are located, and a single story slab covered with a grid of gallery skylights containing the permanent collection. This slab of skylights is located between der Neue National Gallery and das Philharmonie keeping a dialogue between these two buildings possible.
For the design of the facade of the street building I was inspired by the philosophy of Schinkels Altes museum and integrated his idea of the public stoa from which visitors enjoy a view over the city. The higher up the more intimate the spaces get. This hierarchy of space is expressed by its facade. The distance between the columns and the width of the columns becomes smaller per floor .
(1). Gehl, J. (1971). ‘Livet mellem husene’. København: Arkitektens Forlag.
Ground floor
-1 floor
Painted wooden model of the street building, 1:50
Schinkels Altes museum
Paper model of the gallery, 1:50