City Museum Cologne
Cologne, 2009
Cultural buildings Competition
Designing the new Stadtmuseum Köln we were faced with an unusual precondition. The site of the museum used to be on the towns border today this is the centre of the city – adjacent to the fortifications enclosing the town. The fortifications are hardly visible anymore today; the existing museum though quite naturally uses a small part of the town wall as a foundation. Furthermore, a Prussian guard house forms part of the ensemble, strangely enough located one metre lower. The whole situation is odd and does not make sense, yet it forms a very special ensemble in todays urban surrounding.
In our design we aimed to pick up exactly this character of naturally using the existing and developing it in a new way. Our proposal is a reflection of the 16th century "Zeughaus" (armoury). Its structure is derived from it special location alongside the former town wall and is influenced by the resulting difficult relationship with the foundations. This will enable the history of Cologne to be continued in a distinct and unique way.
Offices involved:
Technical details:
Typology: Cultural buildingsProcurement documentation: Competition
Service phases (HOAI): 1
