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Competition: 2005
Client: History and Arts Museum, Vienna
Use: Temporary exhibition as extension of the existing historical museum building
Size: 900 m²
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courtyard contents
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The History and Arts Museum in Vienna necessitates an expansion to house the temporary exhibition space and a new cafeteria space. The provided space for the extension is located within an existing courtyard of the old classicist building occupied by the museum.
The extension stretches between the two of the front walls of the courtyard while detaching and distancing itself from the rest of the building.The gently warped facades allow natural light to punctually penetrate the volume, reflect while refract the image of the old building mirroring itself in its new extension. This interplay of light and fragmented mirrored images amplifies the visual depth of the gap between the two buildings and allows the extension to mimnetise itself as part of the historic building.
The extension is accessible by means of the present staircase of the historical building on the first floor. The interior space is conceived as a column free space, in order to allow for maximum flexibility for varying curatorial and exhibit concepts. The structural principle is based on a compound steel frame truss construction that spans between the two existing load bearing walls of the historical building. The cafeteria is located on the top floor of the extension, and is hung from the main frame construction.