Demand: 

One of the demands of the project is to honor the memory of the architect Ulriche Müther throughout the design by creating a shell structure. Also, by adding to the functions of the building an archive for storing Müther’s works.

Requirement: 

The exhibition area of the existing museum is currently divided by natural elements like fire, water, and air. Only Earth was missing. As a requirement, the new exhibition hall has to be built with natural materials like rammed earth to emphasize even more the Earth element theme.

The site plan shows the new project (in brown) as an extension of the existing building. In the center of the courtyard, a shell-structured pavilion in the style of Müther is proposed to reinforce the idea of reflecting his architectural style. This pavilion will be used as an earth construction workshop space.

The side plan also shows another building on the northwest side, which is a depo that was part of a different subject class and would be built after the exhibition hall.

The shape of the new building will be the main tribute to Müther. Starting from a rectangular shape, the midpoints of each side of the rectangle are raised proportionally. The resulting shape is a shell with four vaults similar to those of Müther’s Seerose café-restaurant project in Potsdam. Then, the midpoints of each vault are moved to one side to break the symmetry. The openings of the vaults will be covered with curtain walls and rammed earth walls.

The structure of this building is made of cross-laminated timber. The wooden beams follow a parametric array that gives the building its shape. The beams of each axis interlock themselves and form the waffle structure.