Kunsthalle Mannheim Building
KUNSTHALLE MANNHEIM BUILDING
Gmp Architects
ARCHITECTS
Gmp Architects: Meinhard von Gerkan, Nikolaus Goetze with Volkmar Sievers
YEAR
2017
CATEGORY
Museum
AREA
17366.0 m2
CITY
Mannheim
PHOTOGRAPHS
Hans-Georg Esch, Marcus Bredt, Kunsthalle Mannheim / Lukac Diehl
CLIENT
Kunsthalle Mannheim Foundation
COMPETITION PROJECT MANAGENT
Di Miao-Weichtmann
CLIENT
Kunsthalle Mannheim Foundation
COMPETITION PROJECT MANAGENT
Di Miao-Weichtmann
MANUFACTURERS
Solarlux, Haufe, RENTEX, TRIDONIC
EXECUTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Liselotte Knall, Kerstin Steinfatt
COUNTRY
Germany
DESIGN
Meinhard von Gerkan, Nikolaus Goetze with Volkmar Sievers
3 D AND VISUALISATION TEAM
Markus Carlsen, Tom Schülke, Jens Schuster, Christoph Pyka, Kenneth Wong, Björn Bahnsen
EXECUTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT (UP TO PHASE 5 + ARTISTIC DIRECTION)
Liselotte Knall, Kerstin Steinfatt
DETAILED DESIGN TEAM (UP TO PHASE 5)
Ulrich Rösler, Raimund Kinski, Amra Sternberg, Viktoria Wagner, Hanna Diers, Michèle Watenphul, Anna Falkenbach, Felix Partzsch
SITE SUPERVISION PHASES 6 TO 9
Sven Lemke, Kevin Puhmann, W+P Gesellschaft für Projektabwicklung
COMPETITION DESIGN TEAM
Ulrich Rösler, Mira Schmidt, Steffen Lepiorz, Liselotte Knall, Kai Siebke, Frederik Heisel
Text description provided by architect.
The new museum building at Friedrichsplatz in Mannheim links up with the existing Art Nouveau building, the so-called “Billing” building, and has been designed as a “city in the city.”
Within a simple overall structure, individual cubes have been arranged in an inspiring composition to provide exhibition space and rooms for supporting functions.
They enclose a central atrium and are linked via galleries, terraces, and bridges. In analogy to the elements that make up urban environments—buildings, blocks, streets, and squares—varied circular routes are created for the visitors through closed and open spaces with changing vistas and outlooks.
Nevertheless, visitors find it easy to get their bearings in the museum, which replicates the straightforward, ordered structure of the “city of squares” that is Mannheim.
At the same time, every situation along the route of the exhibitions offers new impressions—just as in cities no place is like another owing to the diversity of the architecture, changes in the building lines, and recesses, squares, and open spaces.
The atrium is the point of orientation and also the starting point for the circular tours through the exhibition areas on three levels, two of which are connected with the Art Nouveau build- ing via the historic Athene tract and from there with the open-air sculptures garden.
The exhibition concept consists of large spaces with light ceilings, which can be used in various different ways, and two cubes with side lighting. On the third floor, a roof terrace has been integrated into the circular tour, from where visitors can enjoy the panoramic view of Friedrichsplatz with the distinctive water tower.
This space concept results in the museum and city spaces being functionally and visually interwoven, ensuring that the art radiates out into the city through the architecture and also that the city flows virtually without barriers into the rooms of the new buildings.
The facades are cloaked with a transparent metal mesh with a bronze-colored coating that defines the external shape of the building and creates a respectful dialogue with the sandstone colour of the neighbouring buildings. Varying degrees of transparency are achieved with different mesh widths. Thus, the integrity of the overall building shape is preserved so that the individual volumes can be seen in their graded differences from close up or further away, by day and by night.
Just as the urban structure of a city provides the ordering context in which each individual building expresses itself, the “city of art” concept creates an architectural framework which gives rise to an identity and, at the same time, provides maximum flexibility for the curator.
