The jury has awarded the first prize to the design submitted by Berlin architect Volker Staab and has recommended that the design should be implemented.
Dr. Annemarie Jaeggi, Director of the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin.-
‘After many years of effort we have finally reached our goal: on the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus, the Bauhaus-Archiv will be receiving the extension it needs. With Volker Staab, we will be gaining one of the most experienced architects in the field of museum building. His intelligent design will offer us a wealth of opportunities, both in museum terms and also in terms of communicative options, to extend our work into the urban space and into society. The whole Bauhaus-Archiv team is looking forward to working with him in the future.’
Minister of State for Culture, Monika Grütters, comments on the result.-
‘I am delighted that Volker Staab, who already has an established reputation in the field of museum architecture – in Bayreuth and Münster, for example – has now presented a convincing design for Berlin as well. The Bauhaus-Archiv will be receiving an exciting, appealing, experimental building that will meet the needs of a 21st-century museum. It leaves plenty of space open for creativity – a space that will be worthy of the world’s most important Bauhaus collection.’
Senate Director of Urban Development Regula Lüscher.-
‘Volker Staab has given us a design that will cause a sensation. It has an attractively modest quality and it will complete the landscape ensemble of the Villa von der Heydt and the Walter Gropius building. An open, flexible museum setting will be created that upholds the experimentational quality of the Bauhaus idea. It will attract people to meet up there, exchange views and rediscover the many different aspects of the Bauhaus idea. A lantern shining in the night will be created, a glittering gem on the new square with a view opening onto the Landwehrkanal. The lower-lying courtyard will form the heart of the complex, enabling the existing building to enter into dialogue with the new one.’
Tim Renner, Secretary of State for Cultural Affairs.-
‘The winning competition design means we have completed another important stage on the way to the renovation and extension of the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung jointly initiated by the Federal Government and the state of Berlin. I am very glad that we will be receiving a forward-looking and appropriate extension to the Bauhaus-Archiv. It will be an appealing, experimental, exciting building that will meet the needs of a 21st-century museum and will offer plenty of space for interaction, creativity, and the world’s largest Bauhaus collection.’
