Architecture

Museum Folkwang, Essen

© Sebastian Drüen

The British architect David Chipperfield is one of the most sought-after architects worldwide and has realised numerous projects, including the conversion of the Neues Museum on Berlin's Museum Island, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Liangzhu Museum and the extension of the Kunsthaus Zurich.

Openness & transparency

Chipperfield adopted the transparency and openness of the old Museum Folkwang building with inner courtyards and large windows in order to preserve the building's identity. The architects Werner Kreutzberger, Erich Hösterey and Horst Loy designed one of the most successful museum buildings of the post-war period. The building was opened in 1960 and is a transparent building inspired by the great models of classical modernism. Its special charisma comes from the two inner courtyards that let in a lot of light and from the large windows that open the building to the outside for the visitor. In the new Chipperfield building, too, visitors can see works of art from the street through the large windows. Today, both buildings form a unique ensemble that serves above all as a direct encounter with the works of art.

Generosity

The new building continues the architectural principle of the old building with an ensemble of six structures and four inner courtyards, gardens and convertible halls. The publicly accessible areas of the new building, connected by two glass passages, join the existing exhibition rooms on one level without level differences. A generous flight of steps leads from the museum square on Bismarckstraße to the new entrance area, which is designed as an open courtyard with a café and restaurant as well as a museum bookshop. The new Museum Folkwang offers a varied sequence of rooms with plenty of natural light for the exhibition areas - the collection presentation NEW WORLDS and the special exhibitions - as well as a reading room, multifunctional hall for lectures and events, depots and restoration workshops.