Documentation Centre in the Reichsparteitag Complex in Nuremberg

A documentation centre has now been installed in the former Congress Hall of the monumental buildings erected for the Nazi Party rallies (Reichsparteitage) in Nuremberg. Begun in 1935 by Ludwig and Franz Ruff, the original complex was never completed, but it remains the largest surviving structure of the Third Reich. The 1998competition brief required the northern part of the main building to be converted to house exhibition spaces and an auditorium. The prize-winning scheme by Günther Domenig rams a linear glass-and-steel circulation tract through the thick walls, disrupting the axiality and rectilinear geometry of the existing building. The linear tract cuts diagonally through the northern part of the main structure, passes through a courtyard and pierces the wall on theopposite side. The strip terminates in a lookout space, from where visitors can see thegigantic scale of the arena below. Covering an area of 1,300 m2, the actual exhibition spaces are situated on the first floor and have been left in their original bare brick form. The auditorium sits on two huge downstand beams in the entrance hall. With his angular, “deconstructivist” concept, the architect has succeeded in stripping this monumental building ofits sinister power.