Museum Brandhorst, Munich

Our design for the Museum Brandhorst focuses not only on creating the ideal conditions for exhibiting art: above all the design seeks to posit a dialectical opposition between weight and lightness.

The museum buildings neighboring the site are characterized by an inordinate architectural heaviness, which our design for the new Museum Brandhorst seeks to subvert. By staggering the arrangement of the story-high cuboids, the design offers a tangible experience of physical mass and yet appears to suspend the law of statics. At the same time, the arrangement gives the exhibition space the natural light it needs from above. The underlying supports are discernible, but not visible; by realizing their architectural and artistic potential, the structural elements define the configuration and visual rhythm of the spaces.