Swiss practice Herzog & de Meuron have released revised plans for the Museum of the 20th Century project in Berlin's Cultural Forum. Designed to house the extensive National Gallery on 20th century art collection, the project was made in partnership with the Berlin State Museums and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Herzog & de Meuron originally won the competition to design the museum building in 2016, and the revised design features new plans and a facade that opens the building to the outside.
In November 2014, the German Bundestag decided to donate 200 million EUR to help fund the new building. Made to respect the nearby Mies van der Rohe and Hans Scharoun structures, the Museum of the 20th Century is located between the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Berlin Philharmonie. Playing on a typical house form with a large gabled volume, the project alludes to familiar shapes and construction methods in barns, warehouses and rail stations. Taking cues from the from the Matthäuskirche, the design also includes multiple entrances that are oriented to establish connections with the city.
Partner Jacques Herzog has stated that, "the many reactions to the competition design in the media, from experts and the public alike, have shown how significant this project is, and served as a motivational force for its further development. Our urban planning concept for the kulturforum is a concept of density, not of emptiness. it organizes an interplay of buildings put into precise relation with each other. and it also initiates the interaction of the cultural institutions established in those buildings."
Internationally important holdings will be presented permanently and together for the first time: the holdings of the National Gallery on 20th century art, the Marx and Pietzsch collections, parts of the Marzona collection anchored in the Staatliche Museen, and works from the Kupferstichkabinett. The works will be exhibited both in the basement of the Neue Nationalgalerie and in the exhibition rooms of the new building. Rising four floors, the museum will be open to the public. The program includes different exhibition areas and rooms for art education, as well as space for groups, a visitor service area, a multi-functional media room, and a cafe.
Herzog & de Meuron will be working with VOGT on the revised design. The current plans will be shown in a small exhibition in the foyer of the Kulturforum until November 2018. The design phase is scheduled to be complete by summer 2019, with the groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for the end of 2019.
