Pinakothek der Moderne Muenchen

Stephan Braunfels Architekten
Pinakothek der Moderne
New Museums neighbouring the Alte and Neue Pinakothek Museums
in Munich
1. Prize in an international competition for realisation
ART ARCHITECTURE DESIGN: FOUR MUSEUMS
UNDER ONE NEW ROOF - AN ENRICHMENT TO THE
MUNICH ART FORUM
The Pinakothek der Moderne lies in the immediate neighbourhood of the Alte and Neue Pinakothek Museums, on the
grounds of the former Turkish Barracks. It creates a joint
between the rectangular grid plan of the Maxvorstadt and the
irregular circle of the old city.
„Where is the entrance?“ is one of the key questions to
the design. Should the new museums orientate themselves
towards the Alte and Neue Pinakothek Museums in the
northwest and show their back towards the city centre in the
southeast or should they open up towards the old city center?
The design has resolved the question by opening the museum
complex on both sides. One entrance is via the large Loggia in
the northwest, oriented towards the Alte and Neue Pinakothek Museums. Visitors coming from the city centre can
access the building in the southeast, through an entrance that
resembles a large gate, followed by a conservatory that leads
into the museum.
Both entrances are connected via a diagonal axsis across the
museum areas. It leads visitors coming from both sides directly to the central hall. From the central hall, covered by a glass
dome, large funnel-shaped staircases that widen towards the
upper and the lower levels, take the visitors to three floors.
The unique staircase in the shape of an integrated rotunda
forms an extraordinary room-sculpture. Over a length of 100
m and a height of 12 m it ties all parts of the building together.
It reaches the Neue Sammlung in the lower ground, then the
Architecture Museum, the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung (collection of graphics) and the rooms for changing
exhibitions in the ground floor and, finally, the Staatsgalerie
Moderner Kunst (gallery of modern art) in the first floor.
The diagonal penetration of the building developed in relation
to the given urban plan allows for a challenging composition
of room alignments and multifaceted perspectives.
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Stephan Braunfels Architekten
The painting gallery in the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst
located in the upper floor, is a purely day-lit museum with a
rooflight grid that illuminates the rooms evenly to avoid any
shadows or stripes on the walls.
In the actual show rooms, architecture becomes less
apparent: clear-cut day-lit rooms, rectangular or square, in
different proportions adapted to the pieces of art, with white
plastered walls and a homogeneous terrazzo floor.
The Pinakothek der Moderne as a powerful sculpture in
itself is intended, at the same time, it fits well into the urban
plan and should be experienced as part of a larger museum
district.
Thus, the walls surrounding the area of the second construction phase close the painful gap in the urban landscape of the
Maxvorstadt, thereby, putting the historic street plan back
into place.
By resisting the design of a solitaire building and by limiting
the height, the unique position of the Alte Pinakothek Museum
as the centre of the museum district is maintained.
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Stephan Braunfels Architekten
Location:
Area of the former Turkish Barracks
Barerstrasse 40, D - 80333 Munich
Client:
Represented by the Regional planning office of Munich
Planning and Construction Period:
1996 - 2002
GSF / NIA / GV:
33,300 m² / 20,000 m² / 260,000 m³
Construction Costs:
120 million euros
Design:
Stephan Braunfels, Aika Schluchtmann
Project Directors:
Gabriele Neidhardt, Sven Krüger
Cost, Schedule and Technical and General
Management:
ibb Ingenieurbüro Prof. Burkhardt GmbH & Co.
Technical Construction Management:
Staatliches Hochbauamt München I
Landscape architecture:
Adelheid Schönborn
Photographers:
Jens Weber, Achim Bunz
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Stephan Braunfels Architekten
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