MIES - Weissbach Multi-Purpose Hall

What is a multi-purpose building? One hears the term all the time and yet the architectural type eludes any common bystander. What does it mean to have multiple purposes? Tons of buildings already do. Libraries, museums, institutes, et cetera. All serve a varied range of functions and can be used in many different ways.

The Gymnasium

This, I feel, is a pretty good design, but it still leaves that question on the table for me. The design is from astearchitecture, which also was responsible for the Tyrol Mountain lookout that I posted earlier this morning.

Plan of the Multi-Purpose Space

The multi-purpose hall Weissbach is an elongated and transparent gentle sloping to the south building. The ensemble of three buildings elementary school, kindergarten and multi-purpose hall will follow the format and the scale of the village structure. This was achieved through the reduction of the aboveground tree mass. The orientation of the road is essential to ensure the school building and its outer space, the necessary intimacy. The large windows on both sides (seen below) makes the vistas of the building in the transverse direction.

Large Windows Make Interiors Noticeable and Understandable

The roof of the building is extensively planted in the area between the school and kindergarten, cuts into the topography and shape by overcoming a projectile a slightly inclined slope.

A walk-on roof - a toboggan hill. The visible cubature of the building is minimized, the space program integrated into the landscape. The entire green space is preserved, only the contour lines are redefined. The natural terrain edge is through the passageway and the connecting tunnels architecturally enhanced and used for spatial differentiation. The green space will remain exclusive to the school and the kindergarten will receive.

The Underground Route to the Gym

The school is connected via an underground route to the gym, so weather-protected and easily accessible. Directly above the tunnel leads a walk-way which connects the input level of the school with the input level of the new building barrier-free. The multi-purpose hall with the rehearsal room is accessed via a covered staircase. The cafe on the ground floor has a private entrance.

MIES - Altes Museum

A monumental collonade of Ionic columns creates the facade of this prominent museum that was built opposite the king’s palace. This created a fine public garden with the palace, the cathedral and the museum on three sides and bounded by the river on the fourth. The palace was demolished after the Second World War. The building is placed on a large plinth partially as a damp barrier and for dramatic impact. It also provided office accommodation and storage and the internal rooms are lit by basement windows on the other facades.

The row of eighteen columns created a long Stoa which originally displayed paintings by Schinkel (which were completed by others after his death). These have since been destroyed. The two bronze sculptures that adorn the monumental flight of steps are by August Kiss and Hubert Wolff. So originally, the visitor to the museum would have their visual senses assaulted by art and architecture even before they entered the building.

A five bay opening with four more Ionic columns leads to the central vestibule. The interior of the building contains two courtyards as well as a magnificent central drum and rotunda. This was based on the Pantheon and was where the most treasured works were displayed. In postwar reconstruction, the dimensions of the drum was reduced but its discovery still surprises as it is not visible from the exterior.

The Altes Museum is widely considered the height of 19th-century German architecture.  It embraces both classic and neoclassic principles (although it clings more toward the latter) and is a great expression of how a quality drawing can be transformed into enduring architecture.