Neue Staatsgalerie

Description

Perhaps the most valuable thing about this building in Stuttgart is its ‘urban stitching’ approach, which transcends the museum programme.  Its origin stems from a competition for ideas held in 1977, in which the need to create a connection to the old Staatsgalerie (1843) and to address the differences in height in the area were discussed. Stirling’s project addresses the challenge as an opportunity to create a public promenade that not only connects two areas previously separated by the slope, but also creates a transition between the historic building and the new one. This way, the whole becomes a single unit. In line with the post-modern trend, the new building combines classical and modern forms, creating continuity with its context but, at the same time, setting itself apart from it through the use of coloured steel and glass elements. These elements disrupt the classical proposal, creating a complex composition. The result is a building that reinterprets the classical legacy with a certain sense of playfulness.Its U-shaped plan is reminiscent of Schinkel’s Altes Museum, but at its centre, instead of a dome, there is an open, circular central courtyard. Again with reference to the neoclassical building, in place of the entrance portico there is a row of cypress trees reminiscent of its columns.  The building combines different compositional systems in such a way that there is always a tension between the stillness of the pure geometric elements – typical of neoclassical architecture – and the dynamic paths created by means of a complex network of stairs and ramps.