Museum der Bayerischen Geschichte

Am Donaumarkt, Regensburg, Germany, 2012-2013

The competition for the Museum of History of Bavaria in Regensburg is one of the most demanding designs.
It has to be a contemporary building, situated within existing urban fabric, evolved naturally from hundreds of years. The new building can't mimic the existing architecture because it will only diminish its value, but it has to be integrated and adjusted to its scale and form.
Particularly demanding is the design of the entrance to the museum as integral element of a new square. By following the geometrical lines of the existing buildings into the plan of the museum, the old and the new building create an organic ensemble where the pedestrian and the motor traffic share equal rights.
It will become an attractive urban space for Regensburg.

The design of the museum is based on basic principles:
- The space for the exhibition has to be open and continuous.
- The layout of the museum exhibition has to be available to visitors to enter and exit at the same place avoiding addition unnecessary walking.
For this reason the exhibition space was designed as a continuous loop around a central entrance atrium. Lengthy corridors were totally avoided. The atrium is both central lobby and circulation space.
The temporary exhibition space is on the ground floor the permanent on the first floor. There is additionally a basement level and intermediate level between ground and first level.
The museum creates an inside and outside piazza, an inside atrium.

Architecturally the building elevations respond to the urban situation it is facing.
The elevations to the north respond to the longer scale of the bridge and the fluid character of the view. To the south the elevation continues the form of the existing buildings. To the west it becomes the form of the letter L in order to enclose the piazza but never the less allows the view to the river.
To the east the elevation roof mirrors the high and form of the forth coming Ostermeierquartier buildings.