HEWI Mag / References

Museum for Architectural Drawings, Berlin

The exterior design of the museum refers to its use: the façade is reminiscent of parchment and the arrangement of the storeys is reminiscent of drawers stacked on top of each other in which drawings are stored.

The architect's ability to draw is less and less important in the age of digital design processes. Nevertheless, architecture and the art of drawing are still closely linked - outstanding architects are often also good draughtsmen - and hand drawings from the genre of architectural representation are exhibited in a Berlin museum in a collection that is unique in Germany. The curator of the collection has set himself the task of making architectural drawings accessible to the public as an art form. Moscow-based SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov Architects designed the exhibition building. The client and museum donor is the architect and draughtsman Sergei Tchoban, who lives in Moscow and Berlin.

Each time the building is moved, the viewer is presented with a new image of the building - the floors appear like cuboids stacked loosely on top of each other, some of which extend beyond the façade level and are turned inside out. The building is a solid construction made of colored concrete.

The yellowish-grey colour refers to parchment as a carrier material for drawings. Reliefs clearly distinguish the individual levels of the cuboid building. The imprints on the exterior façade are to be understood as a reminiscence of the drawings. The top floor is designed as a glazed staggered floor and has a roof terrace. The building is intended to evoke the association of drawers in which the architectural drawings are stored.

The well thought-out design continues into the interior of the museum. Optimal conditions for the sensitive exhibits are created by special illumination, lack of daylight and a sophisticated building technology. The high-quality, understated interior design underlines the sophisticated architecture. HEWI used white accessories combined with chrome elements in the sanitary rooms. In the barrier-free WC, great importance was also attached to a high-quality design. The folding support handles, for example, are chrome-plated and thus blend in perfectly with the ambience.

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