New rooms - new lines of sight - new views
Press release from 01/11/2018
The construction site of the James-Simon-Galerie on Museum Island opens up new perspectives
Berlin. Since the topping-out ceremony in April 2016, the James-Simon-Galerie has been visibly taking shape as the central entrance building to Berlin's Museum Island, both from the outside and the inside. Highest precision in construction, high-quality materials and the definition of new spaces in clear lines characterise the building site and open up new perspectives for and on the urban space. The new building is being constructed according to plans by David Chipperfield Architects, with the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning responsible for project management.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and client, emphasises: "We are finally on the home straight with the James-Simon-Galerie and can look forward to a brilliant building by David Chipperfield, which will be the first address for visitors to the Museum Island. The building will offer fascinating views of the educational landscape in historic Berlin, but above all the kind of hospitality, orientation and information that an international audience expects from this museum ensemble."
The dominant material for the now completed façades made of large-format prefabricated elements is artificial stone. Both the construction of the façades and the erection of the extremely slender columns made of the same material required the utmost precision. Between the Neues Museum and the James-Simon-Galerie, the courtyard framed by the new colonnades can now be seen, in which an elongated fountain table has already been prepared.
Alexander Schwarz, Partner and Design Director at David Chipperfield Architects Berlin, describes the now clearly perceptible effect of the building as follows: "The James-Simon-Galerie complements the topography of Berlin's Museum Island. It reorganises the ensemble of solitary buildings and radiates far into the urban space. It celebrates the public space. With its architecture of change, the Museum Island appears as an open space, as a forum, as it once did in Friedrich August Stüler's plans."
Inside the building, exposed concrete surfaces with a horizontal structure characterise the public areas. The building envelope was finally closed off by various glass façades. A special construction was realised in the high colonnade: Here, so-called glass swords, which are around 8.50 metres high and mounted at intervals of 1.50 metres to hold the glazing, guarantee both stability and an uninterrupted view of the surroundings. The production of the laminated glass panes with very thinly polished marble also posed a particular challenge. These translucent façade elements are used in the upper foyer as a special design element.
The spatial layout for future service functions of the James Simon Gallery, such as ticket sales, café, cloakrooms, museum shop, etc., is now clearly visible as the interior work progresses. The auditorium with its acoustically effective ceiling sails made of European walnut is also already showing its character.
The expansion of the technical centres and the installations are largely complete. Ducts and pipework in the highly technical building are laid vertically in shafts and horizontally in ceilings or in the so-called ribbed floors, which are currently being covered with large-format shell limestone slabs. In the temporary exhibition area, the air conditioning supply air is not channelled through ducts but through a compressed air floor. This type of air conditioning has the advantage that a duct system can be dispensed with, but requires special measures to maintain hygienic, dust-free conditions during construction in this area.
Petra Wesseler, President of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, explains: "In the case of the concrete block work for the James-Simon-Galerie, it has proved its worth that great importance was attached to proof of material and execution quality as early as the award procedure. In addition to the material quality, the highest standards and absolute dimensional accuracy for the artificial stone façade and the colonnades are at the centre of this project."
Construction of the building is scheduled for completion at the end of 2018. Parallel to the construction work, preparations are also underway - also under the direction of BBR - to fit out the building. This includes equipping all workstations and furnishing the public areas, from the foyers to the museum shop and café, as well as the basic equipment of variable display cases and partitions for temporary exhibitions. In addition, all technical, graphic and media elements of the ticket, cash desk and control system as well as the guidance and visitor information system will be installed as part of the initial fit-out once construction is complete.
A permanent exhibition on the history of the Museum Island is also part of the James-Simon-Galerie. As the first object in this exhibition, a 10-metre-long foundation pile from the former Packhof built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel between 1829 and 1832 was installed in the building in December 2017. This pile was pulled out in its entire length and restored during the site clearance for the James-Simon-Galerie.