The Brandhorst Museum in Munich has a gross floor area of 12,100 square meters and cost €35.5 million to construct. It opened in 2009 to house a private contemporary art collection. The building consists of three simple interconnected volumes clad in a multi-colored ceramic and metal skin. It has three floors connected by a central staircase, with daylit gallery spaces on each floor to showcase the art collection in a variety of lighting conditions.

1. gross floor area 12,100 m2
gross construction cost € 35.5 m
brandhorst museum munich
competition 2002, 1st prize
construction 2005 - 2008
opening 2009
brief The Brandhorst Museum houses a substantial private collection of late 20th-century
museum for a private collection and contemporary art - predominantly paintings. The scheme consists of a long building
of three simple interconnecting volumes clad in a multi-coloured skin of differentiated
client brightness. The taller head of the building defines the north-eastern corner of Munich’s
Staatliches Hochbauamt, Munich museum quarter.
awards The museum is arranged on three floors connected by a generous staircase. A day-lit
International Prize for Sustainable ‘patio’ on the lower level forms the focal point for a suite of galleries dedicated to media
Architecture, silver medal and graphic art. The universal exhibition spaces on the ground floor are illuminated by
Designs of the Year 2010, Design a complex system that brings zenith light into the interior through a series of prismatic
Museum London, Shortlist reflectors. The large rooms on the top floor, including the polygonal hall designed for Cy
Lubetkin Prize 2009, Shortlist Twombly’s Lepanto Cycle, are all naturally lit from above. In these rooms the differing
Mies van der Rohe Award 2009, daylight qualities combine with a deliberate variation in sequence and dimensions to
Selected Work create a subtle characterization of the exhibition spaces. The innovative environmental
concept of the building is highly energy-efficient, and creates excellent conditions for
the art works.
The external skin is composed of 36 000 vertical ceramic louvres, glazed in 23 different
colours. A second layer consists of a horizontally folded metal skin. Both layering and
polychromy lend the skin a varied appearance: what is vivid and three-dimensional
from close-up will appear smoother and more homogenous from afar. The façade
communicates the spirit of the museum to the outside – a place where art comes alive.
sauerbruch hutton

2. sauerbruch hutton brandhorst museum, munich