A Big Attraction to Get Bigger, Better Facilities
The Bauhaus Archive building, a late Walter Gropius work, which opened in 1979 on Berlin`s Landwehrkanal, has become far too small to hold the world`s largest Bauhaus collection and its copious document archive. Many more visitors than originally anticipated flock to see exhibitions and special events, and their numbers are growing! To optimise future museum and archive operating standards, the building must be expanded. The Bauhaus Archive wants to stage more of its own events and offer a wider range of educational opportunities to extend its outreach. As space now only permits to show 35 percent of the museum`s holdings, improving the quality and quantity of the collectio`s public display will make visitor figures go from good to better.
With people from the entire world meeting at the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin, the extended venue will develop into a platform for an international exchange of ideas – into Gropius` vision of a laboratory of design, architecture and art. After more than 30 years, the building constructed in 1979 for the Bauhaus Archive and Design Museum according to plans by Walter Gropius is no longer large enough to hold the world's largest Bauhaus collection and extensive archive. The number of annual visitors to Museum exhibitions is much higher than originally projected. In order to meet the future needs of a modern museum and archive, our building must be expanded.
Project
As a first step toward this goal, the Bauhaus Archive invited six architectural firms to participate in a co-operative competition: Diener & Diener (Basle), Nägeli Architekten (Berlin), SANAA (Tokyo), Sauerbruch & Hutton (Berlin), UN Studio (Amsterdam), Volker Staab (Berlin). On 3rd November 2005, the jury chaired by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lorch (Saarbrücken) awarded first prize to the design of Japanese firm SANAA, and recognised the work of Diener & Diener and Sauerbruch & Hutton with two third prizes.
The design of SANAA, or Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa and Associates was chosen for the expansion of the Bauhaus Archive, a late Walter Gropius work. "In a way the Bauhaus influences architects all over the world." The star Tokyo architect team sees the project as a challenge and a great privilege.
SANAA, Tokio - 1. Rang
The Bauhaus-Archive / Museum of Design was arranging an invitation competition in the manner of a "simplified procedure" which is privately financed and cooperatively carried out. We intend to improve the functionality of the existing museum building with an addition, thus creating both internally and externally, a modern museum establishment. The extension building is to be financed by investment in the manner of a PFI-model (Private Finance Initiative-model).
The goal of our competition is to find a reasonable solution as regards content, economical, urban and architectural criteria. The timeframe for the work of the international group of participants is from April 18th to the end of July 2005.
Projects
| 2003 | Zollverein School of Management and Design, Essen |
| 2003 | Novartis Campus, Basel |
| 2003 | Naoshima Ferry Terminal, Kagawa |
| 2000 | Samll House, Tokio |
| 2000 | Day-Care Center, Yokohama |
| 1998 | Stadttheater, Almere |
| 1995-1996 | Pachinko Parlor III, Hitachi, Ibaraki |
| 1993 | Pachinko Parlor II, Naka, Ibaraki |
| 1993-1994 | House - Y |
| 1992-1994 | Villa in the Forest |
| 1993-1994 | Polizeistation, Chofu, Tokio |
| 1991-1993 | Pachinko Parlor I, Hitachi, Ibaraki |
| 1990-1991 | Frauenwohnheim, Saihunka Seiyaku |
| 1988-1990 | Plattform II, Yamanashi |
| 1987-1988 | Plattform I, Katsuura, Chiba |
Designs for Museum- and Exhibitionbuildings
| 2005 | Valencia Institute of Modern Art, Spanien |
| 2005 | Contemporary Art Museum, Kanazawa, Japan |
| 2003 | New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York |
| 2001 | Toledo Museum oft Art Glass Pavilion, Ohio, USA |
| 1997 | N-Museum, Wakayama |
| 1997-2001 | Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Syndey |
| 1995-1999 | O-Museum Lida, Nagano Prefecture |
| 1994 | Award Architecture of the Year |
| 1994 | First Prize, Commercial Space Design Award |
| 1992 | Award J.I.A. "Young Architect of the Year" |
| 1990 | SD Review |
| 1989 | The Yosioka Prize |
| 1988 | SD Review |