KUNSTMUSEUM BASEL
DESIGN BY CHRIST & GANTENBEIN ARCHITECTS
KUNSTMUSEUM BASEL DESIGN BY CHRIST & GANTENBEIN ARCHITECTS
Swiss architects Christ & Gantenbein placed first among tough competitors, such as the five Pritzker
laureates (Peter Zumthor, Zaha Hadid, Rafael Moneo, Tadao Ando and Jean Nouvel)
in the competition to design an extension for the Kunstmuseum. Thanks to a
generous donation to the Canton of Basel-Stadt, the Basel Kunstmuseum was able to hold a competition to expand the museum to an
adjacent lot. Christ & Gantenbein’s awarded design was defined as a
“contemporary brother” of the 1930’s Kunstmuseum.
The building’s angled form gives reference to the historical former
buildings of the “Burghof” and creates the front building between St. Alban
Vorstadt and Dufourstrasse. Yet, a contemporary element is splashed
across the front of the brick façade to create an image for the newer
building. This “digital art magazine” is a frieze made out of light
emitting diodes.
The openings of the facade are arranged to give scale and proportion to
the building structure. The closed wall of the top floor where the
special shows are taking place, the upright windows of the first floor and the
pragmatically placed openings in the ground level mark the vertical
organization of the building.
The direct entry to the new building facing the street is formed by the
extension of the existing arcades of the Kunstmuseum and is marked by the drawn-in
corner of the front facade. A “subterranean alley” provides views to a
garden foyer of the lower courtyard.
http://www.archdaily.com/44267/kunstmuseum-extension-christ-gantenbein/
A
INITIAL POSITION & ONJECTIVE
The Basel Kunstmuseum or Museum of Fine Arts is considered one of the leading art museums of the world. It is a museum with a rich tradition and a top-quality art collection that has continued to develop since the 17th century, is innovative and was and is at the very front of contemporary art production. Thus, a unique thread of suspense emerged that spans art from the 15th to the 21st centuries.
The Basel Kunstmuseum or Museum of Fine Arts is considered one of the leading art museums of the world. It is a museum with a rich tradition and a top-quality art collection that has continued to develop since the 17th century, is innovative and was and is at the very front of contemporary art production. Thus, a unique thread of suspense emerged that spans art from the 15th to the 21st centuries.
The museum built on St. Alban-Graben in 1936 is the main building
and was continually renovated and remodelled from the 1990s till 2007. In 1980,
the Museum für Gegenwartskunst or Museum of Contemporary Art on St.
Alban-Rheinweg was established as a branch entirely dedicated to contemporary
art and renovated in 2005. Since 2004, the Laurenz Building directly adjacent
to the museum houses the library, administrative offices, and the University of
Basel Department of Art History.
Historically, the Basel Kunsthalle or Art Hall was the venue for
changing exhibitions and the Kunstmuseum – apart from some periodical
exceptions – the venue of the main collection. Today, however, solely an
attractive exhibition programme and venue guarantee a museum remains popular
with the public and survives among the leading art museums on an international
scale. Ever since 2002, two large special shows are being organized each year,
complemented by 8-10 smaller exhibitions held in the main building, above all
at the Kupferstichkabinett, the Department of Prints and Drawings, and at the
Museum für Gegenwartskunst. As, originally, there was no intention to hold
large exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum, there is currently no respective
infrastructure. Time and again, entire collections have to be repositioned or
stored, causing a permanently provisional state of affairs. Besides, not
all of the more recent forms of art can easily be exhibited in the otherwise
ideal Beaux Arts halls of the museum. Apart from the temporary use of the halls
of the collection for special shows, space for the continually growing
collection has become increasingly scarce.
The targeted vision is to enhance the Kunstmuseum into a venue
radiating tradition while remaining a dynamic and open institution of
international renown with strong local roots, too. Not only the collection but
also the travelling exhibits and special shows of the museum are consistently on
a world-class level that is to be consolidated and expanded, in particular to
address a younger public. Because of a generous gift to the Canton of
Basel-Stadt, there is now a unique opportunity to realize the requisite spatial
expansion with a new building on the adjacent lot of the Burghof property.
Dr. Bernhard Mendes Bürgi, Direktor Kunstmuseum Basel
http://www.dezeen.com/2009/12/17/extension-kunstmuseum-by-christ-gantenbein/
CHRIST &
GANTENBEIN
B
Christ & Gantenbein was established by Emanuel Christ and
Christoph Gantenbein in 1998. Together with their six associates Mona Farag,
Julia Tobler, Tabea Lachenmann, Anna Flückiger, Michael Bertschmann, Victoria
Easton and a team of 35 architects, they work on a wide range of projects: from
private assignments, renovation of historic buildings to housing, office
buildings and bridges as well as big scale urban masterplans.
One of their main focal points is museum architecture: the
renovation and extension of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich as well as the
extension of Basel's Kunstmuseum are actually being planned. Built projects are
to be found in Switzerland, Germany, England, China and Mexico.
After many teaching assignments in Switzerland and abroad,
Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein took up professorships at the ETH
Zurich in 2010.
