Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug & Armon Semadeni
27/02/2017.
[St. Gallen] Switzerland
metalocus, OLGA SVISHCHEVA
metalocus, OLGA SVISHCHEVA
Natural History Museum St. Gallen is a new public space of the city destinated to inform on natural history and related topics for the Swiss cantons of St.Gallen and Appenzell. The permanent exhibition of the Naturmuseum gives insight into the bird and mammal life of the region, microscopic organisms, palaeontology, and geology.
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Roman Keller
Areal view. Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH. Photograph © Bart Ingenieure AG
Site plan. Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
Ground floor. Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
First floor. Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
Second floor. Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
Section. Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
Section. Natural History Museum St. Gallen by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
Fit within the existing structure of public space and facilities, the building of Natural History Museum St. Gallen designed by a planning association of Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH maintains a dialogue with the nearby Rococo church and the botanic garden.
Description of the project by Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
The new building of the Natural History Museum St. Gallen carries on the existing ensemble of public buildings and facilities surrounding the church St. Maria Neudorf and the botanic garden on the eastern limits of the city centre. Through the urban setting and the use of mostly lithic materials the building acts as a visual and representative landmark towards the street and the church complex. At the same time the new museum respects the strong presence of the church’s silhouette. The visible structure of the roof refers to the functional, modest expression of the existing architectures in the botanic garden.
The three-storey building occupies the parcel almost entirely. A new open-air exhibition space is defined and becomes an important part of the promenade between church, museum and botanic garden. Four precisely set incisions in the corners of the building volume interlock it with its surrounding. According to each specific situation they host several different functions - such as a quiet terrace for the café, a representative forecourt towards the street and a discreet delivery in the back.
The museum premises are organised as an open sequence of spaces, beginning with the connection of the foyer facing the street and the secondary entrance hall towards the garden. The visitor follows the tour of the museum across two shifting floors, past the temporary exhibition, into the “relief room”. With its impressive height, its specific character and the connection to the gallery above, it reminds of classical exhibition spaces from the 19th century. The space constitutes the heart of the two exhibition storeys and offers great possibilities to exhibit large objects. The second exhibition storey provides a vast unsupported skylight-lit hall, allowing a lot of flexibility for diverse exhibition concepts. Quiet lounges and educational spaces, such as the library and the youth lab are arranged around the core zones, inviting to individual studies and contemplation in a pleasant, private atmosphere.
More information
Architects
Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten AG & Armon Semadeni Architekten GmbH
Collaborators
Othmar Brügger, Davos; Baumed Bauleitungen, St. Gallen (construction management), Studio Vulkan Landschaftsarchitekten, Zürich (landscape); Synaxis AG, Zürich (construction engineer); BIV Grafik, Zürich (signage); 2nd West, Rapperswil (scenography)
Client
building department of the city of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Building volume
26‘800 m3
Total cost
39.8 Mio. CHF
Architekten Michael Meier und Marius Hug
Michael Meier und Marius Hug Architekten. After studying at the Fachhochschule Winterthur and ETH Zurich, Michael Meier and Marius Hug founded their architectural practice in Zurich in 2001. Their buildings cover a wide range of construction tasks and constructive solutions. Among them there are: the bathing beach in Rapperswil-Jona, the school and Säntishalle in Arbon or the parsonage with church parish hall in Klosters-Serneus. Together with forty employees, they are currently planning two residential towers and a hotel in Arbon, the headquarters of the financial services provider Avaloq with the residential settlement of Manegg West in Zurich, the residential and business building Lake Zurich in Gut Stäfa, the Neues Naturmuseum St.Gallen and the conversion of the textile factory Stoffel in Mels to apartments. The studio has received several awards for its work, among others for the bathing beach in Rapperswil-Jona, the old apartments in Wil and the residential house in Zurich-Albisrieden. The offices of Michael Meier and Marius Hug are located in the former production facility of Hans Kaspar AG, in the industrial quarter Binz in Zurich.
Michael Meier
Architect FH / SIA / BSA
1972 born in Zurich. 1988 Teaching as a structural engineer, 1998 architectural diploma. FH Winterthur, collaboration with Martin & Elisabeth Boesch, Zurich and Miller & Maranta, Basel. In 2001 he founded his own architectural studio tohether with Marius Hug. 2007-2010 Lecturer in Design and Construction at ZHAW Winterthur, Department of Architecture. Since 2007 jury, lecturer and guest critic at various universities.
Marius Hug
Architect ETH / SIA / BSA
Born 1970 in Bournemouth, England. 1998 ETH Zurich architectural diploma with Prof. Wolfgang Schett and Peter Märkli, work with Miller & Maranta, Basel. 2001 Assistant to Prof. invités Quintus Miller and Paola Maranta at EPFL Lausanne. In 2001 founded his own architectural studio together with Michael Meier. 2003-2005 assistant professor Andrea Deplazes, architecture and design at ETH Zurich. Since 2007 jury, lecturer and guest critic at various universities.
Jürg-Andreas Riedl
Architect MSc Arch SIA
1970 born in Chur, 1989 Lehrabschluss as a bricklayer, 1991 Lehrabschluss as a building engineer, 1997 diploma as a technician TS, 1999-2004 architectural studies at the University of Liechtenstein, 2003-2004 research on the medieval monastery building. 2004 Master thesis at the University of Liechtenstein. Collaboration with Maurus Frei, Chur. Since 2007 work with Michael Meier and Marius Hug Architekten Zurich. Since 2010 member of the extended management, since 2014 partner. Since 2016 President of the Design Commission Glarus Nord.
Michael Meier
Architect FH / SIA / BSA
1972 born in Zurich. 1988 Teaching as a structural engineer, 1998 architectural diploma. FH Winterthur, collaboration with Martin & Elisabeth Boesch, Zurich and Miller & Maranta, Basel. In 2001 he founded his own architectural studio tohether with Marius Hug. 2007-2010 Lecturer in Design and Construction at ZHAW Winterthur, Department of Architecture. Since 2007 jury, lecturer and guest critic at various universities.
Marius Hug
Architect ETH / SIA / BSA
Born 1970 in Bournemouth, England. 1998 ETH Zurich architectural diploma with Prof. Wolfgang Schett and Peter Märkli, work with Miller & Maranta, Basel. 2001 Assistant to Prof. invités Quintus Miller and Paola Maranta at EPFL Lausanne. In 2001 founded his own architectural studio together with Michael Meier. 2003-2005 assistant professor Andrea Deplazes, architecture and design at ETH Zurich. Since 2007 jury, lecturer and guest critic at various universities.
Jürg-Andreas Riedl
Architect MSc Arch SIA
1970 born in Chur, 1989 Lehrabschluss as a bricklayer, 1991 Lehrabschluss as a building engineer, 1997 diploma as a technician TS, 1999-2004 architectural studies at the University of Liechtenstein, 2003-2004 research on the medieval monastery building. 2004 Master thesis at the University of Liechtenstein. Collaboration with Maurus Frei, Chur. Since 2007 work with Michael Meier and Marius Hug Architekten Zurich. Since 2010 member of the extended management, since 2014 partner. Since 2016 President of the Design Commission Glarus Nord.
Architekten Armon Semadeni
Armon Semadeni, born in Berne in 1979, studied architecture at EPF Lausanne in 2000, did an internship at Graber Powder Architects in Zurich in 2002, 2003 Studied at the ETH Zurich. 2004 Internship at Wüest & Partner AG in Zurich, 2005 Diploma at the ETH Zurich with Prof. Markus Peter, 2006/07 Collaboration with the architectural office Michael Meier and Marius Hug Architekten, 2007 Collaboration with Maria Conen and Raoul Sigl. In 2008 he established his own architectural practive.
