With tact and measure, operating through linguistic subtraction, formal and material reduction, the architects of the Berlin-based studio Sauerbruch Hutton have guided the complex process of urban regeneration in an area of 8775 square meters, which for over a century was off limits to the public, since it was a military barracks. The architects have worked on seven buildings, including three new constructions.
Their work has spanned different levels of reflection and intervention: the site itself and its layered memory over time, the old and new buildings with their contents and functions connected with the museum (cafes, restaurants, bookstores, kids, entertainment), and the spatial-visual organization of the overall insertion in the urban context.
“We sought dialogue, in a spirit of openness and inclusion, first of all with the community of reference, and then in territorial and architectural terms,” the designers explain, “linking back to existing forms and images, and the surrounding landscape. We now live in the post-Bilbao era: it is possible to be spectacular also by working on fragments.
With color, for example, that plays a key role in terms of perception, varying the spatial impact of a compositional puzzle, also through optical effects. The facades of the new museum building are clad in a multicolored texture of over 20,000 ceramic pieces in 13 tones, which vary their appearance with the changing light, connecting with the chromatic variety of their surroundings.”