Bereichsnavigation
The Museum der Moderne "berlin modern" at the Kulturforum will be a sustainable building for all
Press release from 04/18/2023
The plans for the Museum der Moderne at the Kulturforum have been significantly revised and further developed since the ground-breaking ceremony in December 2019. In addition to a large-scale photovoltaic system on the roof, the building has also undergone numerous other changes that will make it much more socially and ecologically sustainable and participatory. The Bundestag approved around 9.9 million euros for this in autumn 2022.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth explains: "This museum is the largest cultural building project of the federal government, it will complete the Kulturforum and become a magnet for the public with its world-class works. That is why this museum building is a role model. Since the new federal government took office, all those involved in the construction have been working hard to further develop the museum's vision and make the entire project more sustainable - both ecologically and socially. Our goal is a museum that harmonises art of the highest quality with sustainability and social participation. We don't want to build an elitist temple of art, but rather an open, lively, social place - a museum for everyone."
Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK, says: "The new plans result in a significantly changed museum for our magnificent collection of 20th century art, which responds in an exemplary way to the ecological and social challenges of our time. It has set itself ambitious climate targets and wants to be an open house for its public. Thanks to Claudia Roth's support, we also have the financial opportunity to implement measures that will bring the museum into the 21st century in a more environmentally and socially responsible way - with a significantly improved carbon footprint, with photovoltaics and recycled materials, but also with more ticket-free areas, more space for social interaction and more catering. Klaus Biesenbach has set a decisive new course since taking office."
Klaus Biesenbach, Director of the Neue Nationalgalerie: "When I arrived in Berlin, I expected to be in charge of the Neue Nationalgalerie and the extension to the Museum der Moderne. I quickly realised that this extension is not just another part of the Mies building, but will be an essential and decisive component of the Kulturforum, which is perhaps the last piece of the puzzle that can save this important cultural quarter in terms of urban development.
As a museum of modernism that brings together all disciplines, not only painting and sculpture, but also film, architecture, design, photography, media, performance, etc., it has a serving function to turn the Kulturforum into a campus, a museum garden that allows the greenery of the new building's central plane tree to spill out and grow over the entire Kulturforum. The Museum der Moderne, or 'berlin modern' for short, is the entrance to the museum garden, which will be an open centre for everyone with its many existing art collections, the Philharmonie, St. Matthew's Church and across the street from the State Library and the Ibero-American Institute."
"Our competition project was already planned as a house for everyone with a large pitched roof around the historic plane tree. Nature surrounds and permeates the building with new plantings on all sides, which will gradually fulfil our initial vision of the Tiergarten expanding into the Kulturforum. The building will attract people because it is intended for them. For everyone, not for a select few," says architect Jacques Herzog.
The revised design of the building provides for a photovoltaic system of around 4,000 square metres on the roof of the building. This means that the museum will already fulfil the energy efficiency standard EGB 55 when it opens, which will not apply until 2045. Its primary energy requirement is therefore well below the current legal requirements. Architecturally, the design is a role model. The competition project was already planned as a building with a large pitched roof around the plane tree, open to all.
Numerous savings and changes to the materials were also made in favour of improving the building's carbon footprint: Clinker bricks without concrete are now planned for the façade. They replace the originally planned prefabricated concrete clinker elements. Here too, the archaic materiality and layering of the brickwork emphasises the archetypal form of the building. While the material continues to create a reference to St. Matthew's Church, the sand-grey colour of the clinker brick refers to the plinth of the Neue Nationalgalerie. Together with the dark colour of the PV roof, this creates a visual link to the Mies van der Rohe building. Further optimisations have led to a streamlining of the supporting structure and savings in steel and concrete.
Another focal point is the use of recycled materials, which are used for the concrete, the façade tiles and the exterior flooring. The proportion of recycled concrete in particular has been increased. The user requirements were also reviewed again in favour of a more climate-friendly building. The design of the building services was optimised by adapting the museum's climate requirements, among other things. This measure, together with the decision to integrate energy-efficient heating/cooling floors, has led to a reduction in the energy required for air conditioning of around 20 per cent. In combination with the large-scale PV system on the roof, considerable CO2 savings per year are achieved in terms of energy consumption, which is equivalent to offsetting a forest almost 1.5 times the size of Berlin's Tiergarten."
Overall, the building will not only be more energy-efficient, but also greener in the literal sense: along Potsdamer Strasse, there will be an almost continuous green strip with biodiverse planting at different heights, modelled on Brandenburg field hedges. When selecting the grasses and shrubs, care will be taken to ensure that they can also withstand future climatic extremes. Additional trees are also planned on the west side, towards Matthäikirchplatz. The green strips, as well as the plane tree, will be watered with rainwater from cisterns, among other things. Infiltration-capable paving will make an additional contribution to an improved microclimate.
In addition to the measures to achieve greater ecological sustainability, numerous other planning changes have also been made to make the building more welcoming, more lively and also more participatory. For example, there are now more ticket-free exhibition areas and curatorial spaces for social events. The catering areas have been expanded and given a different feel: In future, there will not only be the opportunity to visit a restaurant, but there will also be a beer garden around the Platanenhof where visitors can linger. The south side of the building will also be more hospitable, with a pop-up café opening up towards the Neue Nationalgalerie. A bookshop will also open directly at the east entrance of the building alongside the free "Street Gallery".
The entrance areas on the east and west sides have been redesigned. Simple transverse incisions in the façade have replaced the large gates as discreet, unobtrusive entrances. Behind them, high rooms open up before the actual museum entrance, which are accessible as a "street gallery". The exhibition rooms thus extend from the inside to the outside. A bench will also emerge from the new exterior façade, inviting visitors to the Kulturforum to linger along the east and west sides of the building. The greenery directly in front of it will provide shade and ensure an improved microclimate. The planting on the west façade will give Matthäikirchplatz a new quality of stay. Overall, the building will act as a unifying element and make the Kulturforum a much more liveable place.
The cost of the construction project, including the additional 9.9 million euros for the measures presented today, currently stands at 363.8 million euros. In addition, up to 33.8 million euros in general risk costs, 10.3 million euros in project-specific risk costs and up to 52.2 million euros in construction price increases have been named.
