SO-IL's proposal for nationalgalerie20 in berlin

new york-based firm SO-IL has shared its competition entry for berlin’s nationalgalerie20, with a proposal that seeks to redefine the museum as an open structure.

earlier this week, herzog & de meuron were chosen to construct the new museum building as part of the city’s famed kulturforum complex in germany. intended as a ‘place of encounter’, the structure will provide increased and additional gallery space for mies van der rohe’s adjacent neue nationalgalerie — which has become too small to properly exhibit the museum’s artwork.

all images courtesy of SO-IL

SO-IL’s design intends to advance the museum typology, shifting it from ‘a passive repository of sacred objects’ to a ‘space of public exchange that embraces the complexity of today’. rather than static rooms, a series of shifting wall partitions form the buildings framework. this dynamic spatial system opens up new sightlines throughout the museum.

the site is surrounded by city landmarks

in addition to organizing the internal layout, these elements also serve as the main structural walls, allowing large column free volumes, ideal for galleries, atria and light wells. set at a constant 3 meter width the units can accommodate circulation stairs and elevator cores, mechanical spaces, bathrooms, kitchens, storage and equipment.

the museum structure has been placed on equal footing with the rest of the city

in contrast to mies’ neue nationalgalerie, the museum structure has been placed on equal footing with the rest of the city. ‘the future art museum is not isolated and exclusive, but open and permeable,’ says SO-IL. ‘not a static shrine, but a constantly evolving public event.’ the main volume is broken down into three ‘shifting frames’, creating a surface for interaction between institutional and urban life. the building’s massing is also a direct response to neighboring structures, unified beneath a continuous cloak.

the building’s massing is unified beneath a continuous cloak

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SO-IL nationalgalerie20 berlin museum des 20 jahrhunderts designboom

project info:

location: berlin, germany
program: museum of art
area: 22,600 sqm
status: competition 2016
team: florian idenburg, jing liu, ilias papageorgiou, kerim miskavi, michael oliviera, ali karimi, ryan hernandez, sanger clark, liv andersen, ian ollivier
local architect: andré schmidt, MATTER
landscape: stoss landscape urbanism
structural: schlaich bergermann & partner
MEP: Ingenieurbüro Hausladen GmbH
civil: BAL Bauplanungs und Steuerungs GmbH