Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (Stuttgart Art Museum)

In the heart of Stuttgart, the new museum building with its glass cube sets an architectural accent. Those who can still remember the situation at the "Kleinen Schloßplatz" square back in the seventies with its multilane motorway tunnels and pedestrian footbridges will be amazed at the transformation. Set in a context of urban redevelopment, the new design creatively corrects and integrates the unpopular relics of the former planning vision of a "car-friendly city." Culture is returning to the centre of life at Königsstraße high street; and in the museum restaurant citizens and guests enjoy a splendid view over the castle and city.

The design from the Berlin architects Hascher and Jehle is remarkable in that the striking glass cube only contains about a fifth of the 5000 square metre exhibition area; to be specific, it holds the rooms for rotating exhibitions, plus the restaurant and entrance foyer. The remaining exhibition area, where the civic art collection is on display, continues underground and uses large sections of the old motorway tunnel. Without doubt, hardly any trace of its former existence is noticeable: the two-storey galleries are bright, generously proportioned and airy.

The reflective properties of the facade were consciously and skilfully utilised by the architects and lighting designers. Whereas the vitreous, reflective cube strikingly sets itself apart from the commercial-looking surroundings by day, a differentiated image emerges with the onset of darkness.

The shell is transparent and affords a view onto a further cube inside. This inner cube accommodates the rooms for rotating exhibitions. Its limestone-clad wall surfaces receive grazing light from special perimeter luminaires.

Outdoor downlights at the base of the cube produce an inviting carpet of light all around the building, weaving it into the urban fabric of the city.

Access to the rotating exhibition and the restaurant in the top storey is granted via stairs and walkways between the cube and the glass shell. The flow of visitors is thereby transformed into a moving ornament within the architecture.

The dynamic lighting installation of the Berlin artist Andreas Schmid with its 334 fluorescent tubes is, for visitors, probably the most eye-catching element of the light and building control network. The latter ensures optimum lighting relationships within the entire building complex. ERCO lighting control modules are networked together in this LON-based system - from the restaurant and foyer right down into the galleries. The system is operated via ERCO Control Pads (photo below) whose coloured touch screens allow user-friendly function selection.

The usage-dependent and daytime-dependent gallery illumination is provided by luminous ceiling elements combined with low-voltage halogen downlights. This automation is also performed by the lighting control system. The system consists of the enormous number of 720 circuits in total and thus constitutes the biggest ever ERCO lighting control installation to date.

Glass skylights allow daylight to penetrate into the almost 100m-long access corridor which follows the course of the former motorway tunnel. Artificial light from special recessed wall-mounted downlights is automatically added by the ERCO lighting control system as and when needed.

Downlights ensure glare-free general lighting on the public areas, while track systems enable additional spotlights and wallwashers to be freely positioned to suit the requirements of the particular exhibition layout.

Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (Gallery of the City of Stuttgart)
Kleiner Schlossplatz 1
70173 Stuttgart
www.kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de/

Contact:
Tel.: +49 (0) 711 - 216 21 88
Fax: +49 (0) 711 - 216 78 20
info@kunstmuseum-stuttgart.de

Opening times
Tue, Thu to Sun: 10 :00 a.m. – 6 :00 p.m.
Wed and Fri: 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Mon: closed

Architect: Hascher Jehle Architektur, Berlin
www.hascher-jehle.de

Lighting designer: Peter Andres, Hamburg
www.andres-lichtplanung.de/

Lighting and electrical engineering designer:
IBB Burrer & Deuring GmbH, Ludwigsburg

Total investment: approx. €67 mil.

13,000 m² gross floor area
11,249 m² net floor area
11,080 m² usable areas

Of which:
4,450 m² exhibition areas
2,270 m² service areas
2,090 m² public areas

Building commencement: March 2002
Opening / inauguration: Spring, March 2005

(Source for building data: architects’ website)