Report: Bird of Paradise or Cuckoo’s Egg? The Brandhorst Museum in the Munich Gallery District
Since Karl Friedrich Schinkel built the Old Museum in Berlin in 1830 and Leo von Klenze the Alte Pinakothek in Munich in 1836, the two cities have vied with each other to be the leading museum venue in Germany. Central art districts have been created in both cities, but today, Berlin can be regarded as the undisputed museum capital of Germany. To catch up in this competition, Munich has now erected the Brandhorst Museum – with an exhibition area of 3,200 m² – in its gallery district. Designed by Sauerbruch Hutton, the new structure has been criticized for its bold coloration and use of materials untypical of the location, and for turning its back on the other galleries here. The architects oriented their building instead to the Neue Pinakothek, a street block away on the opposite side of the road, seeing this as the future axis of development. The Brandhorst Museum consists of a 98-metre-long tract 17 metres high that culminates in a 23-metre-high corner structure. In conjunction with a 1952 housing development of almost equal height opposite and with nearby corner towers, the museum forms a gate-like entrance to the art district.
