James-Simon Gallery, Museum Island Berlin

Project description

The building will represent a new address, a new entrance and reception area for the "Museum Island". It will exploit the full potential of this architecturally attractive area around Lustgarten, Schlossbrücke and Unter den Linden while at the same time highlighting the spatial links between the existing buildings. Apart from establishing a communication with the open spaces, the design creates a physical connection with the main floor of the Pergamon Museum as well as with the Archeological Promenade on the base floor.

The main structure of the New Entrance building is situated between the raised colonnade and the new small colonnade courtyard so that the side elevations of the new building will be embraced by both colonnades. An expansive flight of stairs extends from the southern face of the structure, providing a generous entrance towards Lustgarten as well as the main access to the New Entrance building. In this way, visitors walk under the open sky to the top floor, which corresponds to the main floor of the Pergamon museum, where they are welcomed by a generous hall.To the West of the hall, the café and the passage to the Pergamon museum are embedded in the colonnade.The mezzanine floor between the foyer on the colonnade courtyard and the reception hall on the top floor houses facilities such as cloakroom, toilets, shop etc., while the rooms for the temporary exhibitions, the auditorium and the seminar rooms are located on the base floor next to the passage towards the Archeological Promenade. In terms of its architectural language, the New Entrance building picks up on existing themes from the architecture of open spaces, such as the built-up topography, colonnades and open staircase. Based on this context, a contemporary building is emerging. Although reflecting the idea of classicism, its design language refrains from adopting academic classicist details.

Text: © David Chipperfield Architects Berlin

Pictures: © Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Imaging Atelier