Kunsthaus Bregenz_artikel

PRODUCTION & PARTS

PRODUCTION & PARTS

Assignment 3a Kunsthaus Bregenz

Assignment 3a Kunsthaus Bregenz

Kunsthaus, Bregenz Peter Zumthor Joost Pijnenborg

The art museum in Bregenz is situated along the shore of the Bodensee in the direct environment of three heavy-weights: the main post office, the city theatre and the regional ‘Landesmuseum’. The art museum has an unusual building structure, that is partly perceivable from the outside, though at the same time somewhat disguised by the exterior glass facade.

Four and a half square meter panes of glass are slightly tilted both vertically and horizontally, causing them to overlap at all sides. The glass is etched, which reduces the transparency. This treatment makes the panes appear very differently depending on momentuous lighting and the angle of viewing. Sometimes the facade vibrantly reflects the colours of the sky and water, while it can also look more translucent and suggestively outline silhouets of the interior, two large staircases in particular.

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Production & parts_7x500 Joost Pijnenborg 0514036 juni 2009

The program mainly consists of three exhibitions rooms of nearly 600 square meters. They are stacked on top of two basement stories and the entrance on the ground floor, making the building rise to a height of almost 30 meter above surface level and 9 meters below.

Fig. 1: sketch of the plan Peter Zumthor made this drawing, showing his intentions with regard to how the three walls would direct daylight and structuralize the interior. picture from: http://marcustrimble-arch1201-2008. blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html

Fig. 2: situation Bregenz, Austria, 1:5000 The grey filled cube is the art museum. Its diagonal is along the north-south axis.

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PRODUCTION & PARTS

PRODUCTION & PARTS

Assignment 3a Kunsthaus Bregenz

Building structure The three walls are 720 mm thick and have integrated functionality. They are not only load bearing, but they are also directors of daylight and they create an inner-interior, outside of which all routing and facilities can take place. With their large dimensions and mass, the walls (and floors) have an excellent heating capacity.

Water is conducted through synthetic pipes in the concrete, thereby cooling or heating the building with energy gained by heat exchange with the soil water at a depth of 28 meters. Because of this system relatively little air refreshment is needed, which can be sustained by a small rebate between the floor and the walls (see isometric view on page 004).

Lighting The ground floor is the only one with lighting from the side. All exhibition rooms are enclosed by concrete walls. Because of an in between-storey with side glazing and a opaque floor - which would be the ceiling of the exhibition room - all floor get overhead lighting. Striplights above the ceiling can be supplement to the daylight if needed.

Even the basement storey still gets some daylight because of the spare space between the glass facade and the actual exterior wall.

Assignment 3a Kunsthaus Bregenz

Fig. 3: ground floor plan, 1:500 The (trade) entrance and fire-escape are the only irregularities in the facade. The concrete walls are positioned to bear the floors and direct the light, while also cleansing the interior of all routing elements, that are placed on their outside. The entrance floor has no lowered ceiling, only hanging lamps at the same level (see the section below).

Fig. 6: the in between-storey Sometimes the glass panes seem farely nontransparent, not revealing anything of the interior. picture from http://rockstararchitects.com/_wsn/page8.html

Fig. 7: the in between-storey Viewed from a straight angle and with diffused daylight one can easily see the contours of the interior spaces. picture from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Kunsthaus_Bregenz_01.jpg

Fig. 4: upper floor plan, 1:500 As opposed to the ground floor, the exhibition rooms are fully enclosed by concrete walls, making the natural lighting the more surprising.

Fig. 8: the in between-storey This picture shows how the ceiling is hung and how it lets through natural light from the side. The striplights can fill in a short of light, depending on the weather or interior-related desires. picture from magazine Bauwelt, 1997, nr. 35

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Fig. 5: cross-section, 1:500 The section nicely shows the floors diminshing height where they overhang the walls, though only so where there is a lowered ceiling. Level -2 is non public, level -1 houses toilets and alike.

Fig. 9: panoramic view of one of the exhibition rooms picture from http://www.weblog.drlist.de/files_bilder/ShermanPano.jpg

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PRODUCTION & PARTS

PRODUCTION & PARTS

Assignment 3a Kunsthaus Bregenz

Fig. 10: isometric drawing of the facade structure 1. load bearing concrete wall (720 mm) 2. structural concrete floor, decreasing height in overhang 3. cast floor 4. climatic installations 5. insulation 6. glazing (thermal boundary) 7. hanging ceiling, translucent 8. steel stanchion, mounted to walls 9. steel structure, mounted to stanchions 10. clamp mounts 11. glass panes, etched (1720*2970 mm) 12. steel cable, crosswisely tensed

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Assignment 3a Kunsthaus Bregenz

Details Although the structure of the building is quite inventive, there is no sign of any technical intervention or whatsoever, except exactly that there is none. Heating and cooling are integrated in the walls and floors and only show a minor opening along the sides of the floor. Both the interior, very high-quality sight-work concrete, cast per 500 mm height, as well as the glass facade have an explicitly straightforward appearance. The clamp mounting system shown on the right is a very easy way of mounting glass panes, leaving small strips sticking out all over the facade in a very rigid structure. The overall

Fig. 11: horizontal clamp mount detail, 1:10

architectural expression is twofold: as different as the interior and exterior are, so well do they harmonize within the building concept. And as cold as glass, concrete and plainness are often experienced, so gentil are they combined in the Bregez art museum.

11 Fig. 12: vertical clamp mount detail, 1:10 12

References Adam, H. (1997) “Glashaus aus Beton, Peter Zumthors Kunsthaus in Bregenz”, Bauwelt, 1997, nr. 35. pp. 1911-1917 Unknown (1997) “Berichte: Kunsthaus Bregenz”, Detail, 1997, nr. 8, pp. 1318-1319

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Pilgram, B. (1997) “Schalungs- und Betonarbeiten am Kunsthaus Bregenz”, Detail, 1997, nr. 8, pp. 1387-1388

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