The design
of the Arp Museum represents the seamless integration of
the building’s spectacular site with the museum’s mission to showcase the work
of the Dadaist master Hans Arp and his circle. One of the unique features of
the region in which the museum is located is the series of medieval castles
that line a 35-mile stretch of the river Rhine. The Arp Museum, sited on a
wooded escarpment overlooking the Rhine, is intended to respond to and echo the
forms of these captivating relics.
Architects: Richard Meier & Partners Architects
LLP
Location: Remagen-Rolandseck, Germany
Principal in Charge: Richard Meier
Design Partner: Bernhard Karpf
Project Architect: Stefan Scheiber
Designer: Bernhard Stocker, Michael ThannerLocation: Remagen-Rolandseck, Germany
Principal in Charge: Richard Meier
Design Partner: Bernhard Karpf
Project Architect: Stefan Scheiber
Collaborators: Clay Collier, James Luhur, Aaron Vaden-Youmans
Associate Architect: Ehrensberger & OertzArchitekten
Principal: Matthias Oertz
Site Administration: Thomas Böhling, Marco Theil, Thilo Bergmann
Structural Engineers: Buro Happold, Draheim Ingenieure
Geotechnical Engineer: Dietrich Beratende Ingenieure Witt, Jehle & Kriechbaum
Mechanical Engineer: Zibell – Willner & Partner Freiländer & Partner
Electrical Engineer: Müller & Bleher
Façade Consultant: Albrecht Memmert & Partner
Lighting Consultant: Müller & Bleher, LichtDesign, Zumtobel Staff
Acoustic Consultant: Trümper – Overath – Heimann – Römer, Ingenieurgesellschaft für Bauphysik
Client: Ministery of Finance Rheinland Pfalz, Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck
Client Representative: Landesbetrieb Bau Koblenz
The structure’s entry sequence does not begin in the museum proper, but
rather at the base of the bank-side mountain, in the old village railway
station, used since the 1960s as an exhibition space. The lowest level of the
station functions as the main entrance to the new museum building, which is
reached only gradually by a series of carefully modulated tunnels and shafts
that burrow into and up through the mountain to the new building.
The first of these subterranean sequences begins from this lobby, which
leads to a 40-meter-long tunnel—illuminated by two continuous bands of
light—that extends below ground under the railway tracks to an exhibition
pavilion that stands independent of the main museum building. The modest
pavilion features polished concrete floors and a discreet slotted skylight;
aside from providing ancillary temporary exhibition space, the pavilion also
establishes a sense of expectation and uncertainty that is further reinforced
by the next sequence, which materializes as another subterranean tunnel, this
time 35 meters long and terminating at the bottom of a dramatic 40-meter-high
shaft with access to two glass-enclosed elevators. These elevators ascend
through the shaft to a conical tower structure above grade. Here the
translucent tower walls illuminate the shaft and elevators, with added
illumination and hints of views provided by transparent glass slots in the
tower walls. At the tower’s apex the elevators open onto a 16-meter-long,
glass-enclosed bridge which represents the final stage of the sequential
promenade into the museum.
The entry to the museum’s ground floor is flanked to the right by a
freestanding staircase leading to the lower and upper levels and to the left by
a void overlooking the lower-level lobby. In addition to the lobby, which
offers visitors an opportunity for rest and repose, the lower level features a
classroom, administrative offices, service facilities, and access for shipping
and receiving art. In fact, the oversized service elevator, designed to
facilitate the movement of art, also functions as the visitors’ elevator and
provides a galvanizing core around which the gallery spaces on the ground and
upper floors are organized. More specifically, at the ground level these spaces
include two large galleries with access to two terraces, as well as a smaller
enclosed gallery. The spaces on the upper floor are distributed in the same
manner as on the ground floor; however, rather than opening onto terraces, the
two large galleries on the upper floor occupy a seemingly free-floating
platform supported by columns so that they overlook the ground floor galleries
at the east and west edges.
The two main upper-level galleries are illuminated
from above by a ceiling composed almost entirely of glazing, with a series of
2-foot-wide adjustable aluminum louvers providing complete daylight or daylight
modulated with artificial light. A similar, though immobile, louver system occupies
the double-height glazed facade facing the Rhine, opening the museum to
breathtaking views of the surrounding valley.
The design of the Arp Museum represents a unique and seamless
integration of history, art, architecture and nature. The hillside siting,
amongst a gathering of medieval castles, with the landmark railway at the
Rhine’s bank side presented a challenge and opportunity to bring a modern
texture to the historical fabric of Rolandseck.
The use of the railroad station as a portal and the design of the entry
sequence is integral to this ideal of relationships between interior and
exterior, past and present. Traveling through the exhibition spaces within the
rail station, through the tunnels and shafts into the tower and over the bridge
makes the experience of entry part of the museum experience as a whole. The
double height glazed façade and translucent quality brings the light and
extraordinary surroundings into the space as well.
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