Designing of the modern art museum of the 20. century in Berlin

Occasion and objective

A museum of international standing is to be created for the art of the 20th century at the behest of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation SPK. For the first time in decades, the newly created museum complex Neue Nationalgalerie - Museum of the 20th Century will enable the collection of the Nationalgalerie, so far only exhibited to the public in parts, to be presented in an adequate fashion. The internationally important holdings of the Nationalgalerie of 20th century art, the Marx and Pietsch collections, the Marzona archive and works from the Museum of Prints and Drawings will be permanently and jointly exhibited for the first time. The presentation of the holdings will embrace the lower level of the Neue Nationalgalerie and - first and foremost - the exhibition spaces of the new building.

The new building will thus form a tightly circumscribed unity with the Neue Nationalga lerie in content and function. Both establishments - the Neue Nationalgalerie and the new building - are meanwhile to be understood as autonomous architectures with their own entrances, own functional areas (exhibition spaces, administrations, foyers, visitor services, etc.) and their respective own identities. The target set for the new building is a usable area of ca. 14,700 m2 (UA 1 - 6), ca. 9,200 m2 of which can be used as exhibition spaces. The construction field at Potsdamer Strasse has a buildable area of ca. 10,200 m2. The gross floor area expected, depending on the concept, is ca. 27,700 m2, while the clear room height in the exhibition areas needs to reach up to 9 m.

The location of the new museum at the Kulturforum, in the direct vicinity of two of Germany's most important architectural icons of the 20th century (Neue Nationalgalerie,

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1968 and Philharmonie, Hans Scharoun, 1963), as well as in the environs of further architectural monuments (St. Matthew's Church, Berlin State Library), calls for a particularly attentive architectural and development approach.

The Kulturforum is characterised by an urban architecture of mutually complementary solitaires in a "flowing" urban space. The exact placement and architectural design of the new building needs to improve the urbanistic situation and the open spaces' quality of stay, and render them more precise.

This competition for ideas is meant to clarify how the new building for the Museum of the 20th Century and its immediate environment can be fashioned architecturally, in terms of urban planning, and in the design of the open spaces. The competition is aimed at gaining insights into the task formulation and framework conditions of the realisation competition to follow. Based on the results of the competition for ideas, its organiser will optionally define further parameters for the urban planning and the design of the open spaces. In addition to this, 10-20 competitors are meant to be qualified for the subsequent realisation competition as prize winners of the competition for ideas. The competition for ideas is thus designed to provide architects who have not yet planned or realised large museums or similar buildings with an opportunity to take part in the realisation competition.

The German Bundestag has made 200 million euros available for this project in No vember 2014 (investment costs including initial equipment) and placed them under a qualified freeze at the same time. As things stand at the moment, 110 million euros of this are available as a gross cost ceiling for the building and outdoor facilities (cost categories 300-500). The further realisation of the project is conditional to these funds being released by the German Bundestag.