The extension wing of the “Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe” in Hamburg, which was commissioned by the Hans-Otto and Engelke Schümann Foundation, is a new building positioned inside the existing southern courtyard of the listed museum complex. The new volume with five levels accommodates, amongst other things, the collection of historic keyboard instruments of the Beurmann Family, the Gerd Bucerius Library, rooms for temporary modern art exhibitions, workrooms for conservators and scientists as well as the „Destille“ bistro in the socalled Glass Wing. The exhibition rooms are characterised by a spacious layout. The floor slabs are supported by slender, one metre deep, elliptical fair-faced concrete columns. The façade was designed with narrow, floor-to-ceiling window slits to achieve a differentiated diffusion of light and protect sensitive exhibits. A delicate stainless steel mesh is stretched in front of this mainly closed façade. The large new surface has a calming and restrained appearance and strongly accentuates the cornices and window reveals of the historic complex. The new building directly abuts on the external façade so that it partly serves as an interior wall of the extension.

Photos: Aloys Kiefer