Search ArchDaily Projects Products & BIM Folders News Arch.

Riccardo

ArchDaily Projects Museums & Exhibit Germany Humboldt Forum / Franco Stella MORE MUSEUMS & EXHIBIT

Humboldt Forum / Franco Stella

Anticlimax: A Report on The
Metabolist Dream. Nakagin
Save this project Capsule Tower, Tokyo 1972-
2013 / Fala Atelier

Bressanella Agricultural
Pavilion / a25architetti

Historic Toledo Museum of

Art Goes Off Grid

More Museums & Exhibit »

MOST VISITED

Deep Gray Apartment /

Azovskiy&Pahomova
+ 18 architects

Curated by María Francisca González

Humboldt Forum / Franco
Stella
MUSEUMS & EXHIBIT, RENOVATION • BERLIN, GERMANY

Architects: Franco Stella

Area: 100000 m²
10 Innovative Cabins That
Year: 2020 Experiment With Their
Materials
Photographs: Stefan Müller

MORE SPECS

MOST VISITED PRODUCTS

Pivot Hinges for Interior

Pivot Doors|FritsJurgens

Timber Construction in
Cambridge Mosque|Blumer
Lehmann

Wood-Aluminum Window -
TA35 INRA|batimet

Recommended Products

TILES TILES HOTEL APPLICATIONS CULTURAL / PATRIMO…

Randers Tegl Cupa Pizarras Accoya VELUX Commercial

Roof Tiles - Højslev Natural Slate CUPA Accoya® Wood at VELUX Modular
10 World Hotels Salin… Skylights in The Ol…
Resorts Royal Station in
Ballater
Text description provided by the architects. The former Berlin Palace(Berliner Schloss), constructed
since 1443 as the residence of the Brandenburg princes, was partially transformed at the beginning of
the 18th century into the baroque palace of those same sovereigns, who in 1701 became kings of
Prussia and in 1871 also German emperors. Damaged by the Second World War II bombing, the Berlin
Palace was lastly razed to the ground for ideological reasons- as a symbol of Prussian militarism -in
1950 by the holders of political power of the GDR.

He was the urban and architectural director of the historic-monumental Centre of Berlin, built during
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which still exists, although largely rebuilt after the
devastation of the Second World War. The monumental axis Unter den Linden – the almost
uninterrupted sequence of public and private buildings that reaches the Brandenburg Gate– had
begun and then had found the point of arrival in the Palace; its 'garden of delights' (Lustgarten) was
transformed during the nineteenth century into the Museum Island, with the construction of five great
art museums; the portion of the Lustgarten in front of the Palace became the 'Square of the Four
Powers' of the Prussian state, with the construction of the symbolic buildings of Religion (the
Cathedral), of the Military (the Arsenal), and of Culture (the Museum , now the Altes Museum, designed
by Schinkel), whose Greek temple colonnade is explained by its being opposite the Palace.

The former director of the City Centre returns as a teacher of urban history
To rediscover the role of the Palace in the construction of the Berlin Centre, the reconstruction of its
facades is of fundamental importance, because the facade, by virtue of its urban exposure and the
permanence of its shape over time, is the element that more than any other communicates the age of
the original construction of the Palace, and therefore its relations with the other buildings of its urban
context.

The Berlin Palace as a harmonious combination of Old and New

The new Berlin Palace (Berliner Schloss - Humboldt Forum) is a unitary, baroque and modern building,
conceived as a "meeting place with the cultures of the world", dedicated to the Humboldt brothers. It
appears as a harmonius combination between the reconstructed baroque part of the lost Palace (a
"masterpiece of the European Baroque" in Schinkel's words) and a modern added part.

The 'faithful to the original' reconstruction of the stereometry and facades of the Baroque Palace - that
is, the part of the Palace, redesigned at the end of the 17th / early 18th century by Schlüter and
Eosander - and of the Stüler's 19th-century dome, was decided by the German Parliament in 2002 ,
and confirmed by the 2008 Competition program. The new construction consists of five new buildings:
one outside, in the area of ​the Renaissance Palace, the other four in the area of ​the main internal
courtyard, the Eosanderhof. The Palace, the City Gate, the Piazza and the Theater are the excellent
places of architecture and the city, which inspire the combination of Old and New: both outside, in the
urban image of the building, both inside, in the architecture of its three courtyards.

The Palace as a building with five portals as City gates and three courtyards as Piazza
The new building facing the Spree, is intended as the 'fourth wing' of the reconstructed Baroque
building, completing Schlüter's original idea of ​transforming the Palace into a unitary edifice,
following the example of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque ones. The size and the figurative
principles of the façade are similar to those of the three reconstructed wings: by virtue of the
extraordinary size of its window openings, in particular their depth of over a meter, the front on the
Spree looks like a 'facade of loggias' , which suggests the public character of the building.

The four internal pieces of the new costruction complete the Schlüterhof as a theater-square and
realizes two new courtyard-squares in relation to the portals rebuilt as a City gate: the Schloss-
Passage, whose new 'colonnaded way' remember an ancient Roman forum, and the Große Foyer that
evokes the Theater, with the reconstructed triumphal arch’-portal as the ' scene front' and the new
galleries as the lodges for spectators. The new Berlin Palace can be described as a 'city in the form of a
palace', designed both for millions of visitors from around the world and for the daily life of thousands
of citizens. Through its always open portals, the external squares mixes with the internal courtyards in
a grandiose public space in the heart of Berlin.

The facade of Walls and Columns

The modern one as well as the baroque facade often presents the combination of walls and
columns.Both walls, baroque and modern, are a three-layer construction: a reinforced concrete
building-supporting wall, a thermal insulation, and the facade-wall. The baroque one is a brick wall
with an average thickness of 65 cm: a self-supporting construction (and not a hanging 'mask'), which
guarantees a facade with no apparent joints; the modern one is made of prefabricated slabs of
reinforced with cement mixed with clear sandstone.The baroque columnsand its architraves are
reconstructed by adding pieces of natural stone with the same size, shape and material of the original
one; the modern ones are prefabricated monoliths, made, as well as the slabs,of reinforced withe
cement and clear sandstone.

The carved stones

Some stone artifacts have been restored, keeping their current fragmented condition; others, the most
of them, have been reconstructed in their original completeness of form and matter. The restored
stones are variously mutilated figures, irreparably blackened by the patina of time: some have
returned to the open where they were; others, too vulnerable to return outdoors, find their place
inside, in special exhibition spaces. Almost all the carved stones that were on the outside have been
rebuilt: some, such as statues or high-reliefs, are unique pieces, made by the hand of the sculptor;
almost all the others, such as friezes, frames, capitals or balustrades –altogethermore than three
thousand pieces– have been mechanically replicated starting from three hundred models, first of clay
and then of plaster, made in the so-called Palace Factory (Schlossbauhütte) by numerous sculptors
and stonemasons.

The internal spaces

Almost all internal spaces have all been redesigned and modernly equipped according to their new
purpose; the arrangement of pillars and beams is careful not to undermine the possibility of
reconstructing places of particular historical-artistic value in the future. The total useful surface,
distributed over four floors, is 42.000 m2: about a half is intended for the collections of the
Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art, and about 10.000 m2 for spaces of general public
interest.

On the ground floor are the Entrance and Stairs Hall, the Humboldt-Foyer, rooms for shows, meetings
and temporary exhibitions, the Sculpture Hall, bookshop, restaurants and cafes; on the first floor are
the exhibition spaces of a special Berlin Museum and the Humboldt University; on the second and
third floors, are the collections of the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art, research and
restoration laboratories. The underground floor – with the exception of an area of ​about 1500 m2,
where the cellars of the old Palace can be visited– and the entire floor under the roof, are intended for
technical equipment. Above the roof, in continuity with the underlying 'cube-north', the are a pavilion
of a café-restaurant, surrounded by a terrace with a beautiful view to the city.

Project gallery

Project location

Address: Berlin, Germany

Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.

About this office

Franco Stella
FOLLOW
Office

PRODUCT

Concrete

#TAGS

Projects Built Projects Selected Projects Cultural Architecture

Museums & Exhibit Refurbishment Renovation Berlin On Facebook

Germany

Published on January 20, 2021

Cite: "Humboldt Forum / Franco Stella" 20 Jan 2021. ArchDaily. Accessed 20 Jan 2021.
<https://www.archdaily.com/955231/humboldt-forum-franco-stella> ISSN 0719-8884

BROWSE THE CATALOG

ALUMINIUM COMPOS… METAL PANELS BRICKS HANGING LAMPS

Technowood Aurubis Randers Tegl Spectrum Lighting

Wood Siding in KSR Mill Finished Copper: Facing Bricks - Pendant Lights - 22"
Villa Bodrum Nordic Standard Ultima RT 157 Aluminum &…
Prismatic DMD Series
ACOUSTIC CURTAIN WALLS WOOD LIGHTS

FabriTRAK® POHL Lunawood Axolight

AUTEM™ Acoustic Ventilated Curtain Interior Portable Lamp -
Ceilings Wall - Europlate® Thermowood Float by Mario…
Alessiani
PANELS / PREFABRIC… DOORS DOORS THERMAL

Franken-Schotter Linvisibile ECLISSE Phase Change

Facade Panels - Linea Pocket Door Sliding Pocket Door - Thermal
Dietfurt Limestone ECLISSE Circular Performance - ENR…
Blanket ™
More products »

Receive ArchDaily updates via email!

Register and start receiving our content daily in your email.

SIGN ME UP

Work at ArchDaily Terms of Use Privacy Policy Cookie Policy RSS

© All rights reserved. ArchDaily 2008-2021

ISSN 0719-8884
All images are © each office/photographer mentioned.