Kunst- Haus model B&W images

Peter Zumthor won the commision for the design of the contemporary art museum in Bregenz in 1997.

The museum stands like a lantern on the shores of lake constance.

Its appearence is altered by every change of light and weather. The outer skin of the building is made of finely etched glass absorbing and reflecting light and colour. The hundreds of galss panels that clad the building are like scales each overlapping the others. This facade acts as a weather skin, datlight modulator , sun shade and thermal insulator.

To learn more about Kunsthaus as an environmental model click here

By night the museum becomes a soft lit beacon of colour the etches glass creating a mysitacal glow reflected in the lake

the interior is made of glass steel and cast concrete which endows the interior with texture and spacial compositon. The volumes inside are minimal to enhance the art displayed and create amazing spaces in light.

The natural light in the gallery spaces seeps in between the concrete wall and the conrete floor above. It glows as it is absorbed and reflected through to the gallery and floats the glass ceiling above the walls. Unfortunatly this doesnt allow in very much light at all and alot of artificial lightsing is required to light the galerys.

With in the urban context the Kunsthaus Bregenz was built as a solitary constructution in a prominent location not far from the lakefront.

The Kunsthaus Bregenz was conceived as a daylight museum. The facade made of glass shingles serves as a skin to diffuse daylight which first passes through rows of windows and then through the light ceilings in the halls. Although the light has been refracted three times (glass facade, insulating glasswork, illuminated ceilings), it illuminates the halls differently depending on the time of day or year. In this way, a natural lighting atmosphere is created although the building has no visible windows. Over the hanging light ceiling, specially developed pendulum lamps, controlled by an exterior light sensor on the Kunsthaus roof, have been installed that complement the daylight. Every lamp can be controlled separately or as a group and can be infinitely dimmed (light management system Luxmate professional). The pendulum lamps hang in pairs at a 90° angle to one another and are equipped with 58 Watt fluorescent lamps and diffusion attachments.

The etched glass shingles of the facade, lend the building's main body lightness with their transparency, insulate against cold and heat and form an essential part of the lighting arrangement for the building. The incoming light is refracted for the first time on the facade before entering the interior. The facade was designed as a self-supporting construction, completely independent from the actual building. Steel framework elements make up the construction which supports the glass shingles on the outside as well as the glasswork on the inside of the structure. In this way it covers the completely free-standing concrete building like a double casing. Between the outer and inner glasswork there is a 90-centimetre wide light pit that makes it possible to direct daylight to the first subterranean level. This gap is equipped with cleaning lifts used for the servicing and maintenance of the building. In addition, it accommodates the lighting installation which illuminates the Kunsthaus during the night.

Kunst- Haus model B&W images