I Am A Museum!
Cultural buildings are, for good reason, a prize commission in any architectural practice’s portfolio. They’re buildings with presence, charged with preserving values, often central to a place’s identity – and reliably substantial in fee. Open competitions for cultural buildings are predictably swamped. The 2016 Guggenheim Helsinki competition remains an outlier: over 1700 entries reached the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation – for a museum that was never built.
It’s striking how many new and refurbished exhibition buildings are being realised worldwide – and how difficult it was to narrow the selection for this issue. You won’t find OMA’s New Museum extension (New York) or Peter Zumthor’s LACMA (Los Angeles) here. In the latter’s case, the Swiss architect does not permit details or plans to be reproduced. Moreover, the flowing concrete landscape can only be understood in the context of its 20-year development.
A broader dilemma persists: while museums, theatres, and opera houses rank among the most exciting architectural briefs, even the most established institutions are fighting budget cuts. Culture is an immense social force. Theatre, concerts, dance, art: at their best, all expand consciousness. But knowing this and acting on it are different things.
This is why Till Briegleb asks how to reach audiences who aren’t yet interested. This summer in Berlin, the Volksbad offered one answer: an open-air pool in front of the Volksbühne theatre that invited everyone to cool off, free of charge – and became a stage for heated debate. Culture is a mirror every society should look into from time to time.
Jeanette Kunsmann