Schocken building by Mendelsohn restored in Chemnitz
09/01/2015.
By Erich Mendelsohn. Restoration by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. [Chemnitz] Germany
metalocus, SARA REBOLLO
metalocus, SARA REBOLLO
The former Schocken department store by Erich Mendelsohn in Chemnitz, Germany, has been converted into the State Museum of Archaeology SMAC. The building was brilliantly restored by architecture office Auer Weber together with Knerer und Lang and is an excellent example of a careful and well-done refurbishment.
Overview. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe. Click above to see larger image.
Outside view. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © SCHOTT AG. Click above to see larger image.
Access view from inside. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe. Click above to see larger image.
Inside view. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.
Inside view. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.
Inside view. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.
Inside view. Schocken builInside view. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.ding by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe. Click above to see larger image.
Staircase. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.
Access view from outside. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.
Exterior view backside. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.
Exterior view from street. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.
Night outside view. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © Roland Halbe.
Model. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Photography © smac.
Schocken Department Store by Erich Mendelsohn in 1930.
Schocken Department Store by Erich Mendelsohn in 1930.
1928-1930. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz. Postcard, 1937.
Schocken Department Store by Erich Mendelsohn in 1950.
Schocken Department Store by Erich Mendelsohn in 2008.
Site plan. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Image © Auer Weber Architekten.
Elevation. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Image © Auer Weber Architekten.
Ground floor plan. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Image © Auer Weber Architekten.
First floor plan. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Image © Auer Weber Architekten.
Third floor plan. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Image © Auer Weber Architekten.
Fifth floor plan. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Image © Auer Weber Architekten.
Seventh floor plan. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Image © Auer Weber Architekten.
Section. Schocken building by Mendelsohn in Chemnitz restored by Auer Weber + Knerer and Lang. Image © Auer Weber Architekten.
The conversion adopts and accentuates the existing architectural vocabulary. So that the diligently restored band facade must not be darkened for exhibitions, repetitive bays with natural daylight will be developed on the upper levels. The walls installed in the exbition spaces do not connect to the structural beams so as to maintain the the spatial ambience. A new centrally located stair-ramp construction connects all exhibition levels.
The building was brilliantly restored by Auer Weber Architekten in collaboration with Knerer und Lang Architekten, whereas Atelier Brückner was in charge of the museum's exhibition planning.
Description of project by its architects
The reconstruction of the Schocken department store in Chemnitz and its conversion into an archeological museum is based on the requirements of a modern museum and exhibition industry. This goes along with the willingness to reinforce Erich Mendelsohn's original architectural features.
The large exhibition areas span between the radial lines of a circular arc which has in its centre the main circulation element formed by a stair-ramp. The exhibition walls with built-in cabinets and projection surface obliquely converge on this ramp and disconnect the exhibition space from the adjoining rooms designed for special public uses. The exhibition walls are easy to assemble and completely independent from the structural grid.
On the facade, Mendelsohn's original effect of a cantilevered space with no visible pillars is mantained. It is for public experience and can be used for educational purposes with daylight needed. The delicate original fully glazed facade literally becomes a museum showcase, together with the foyer exhibits.
CREDITS. TECHNICAL SHEET.-
Architects.- Auer Weber / Knerer und Lang.
Exhibition designer.- Atelier Brückner, Stuttgart.
Structure.- Erfurt+Mathes, Chemnitz.
Systems.- Obermeyer Albis-Bauplan GmbH, Chemnitz. Elektroplanungsbüro Künzel, Chemnitz.
Iluminación.- Light Design Engineering Belzner Holmes, Stuttgart.
Building physics.- Müller-BBM GmbH, Dresden.
Competition date.- 11/2008.
Start date.- 01/2009.
Construction start.- 06/2010.
Completion dates.- May 2014.- 12/2013 (conversion), 05/2014 (museum).
BGF: 16.980 m2.
Area.- 9.800 m2.
Cost.- 32,6 Mio. Euro.
Owner.- PVG Projektierungs- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft Schocken mbH.
User.- Staatliches Museum für Archäologie, Chemnitz (smac) /Staatsbetrieb, Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen.
Location.- Stefan-Heym-Platz 1, 09111 Chemnitz.
More information
AUER WEBER ARCHITEKTEN. Carlo Weber
Carlo Weber, born 1934 in Saarbrücken, Germany, died May 2014, was a German architect and professor, the founder and senior partner of Auer Weber Architekten. He studied at the TH Stuttgart and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. He graduated in 1961 in Stuttgart. He worked for Behnisch und Lambart in Stuttgart between 1960 and 1965 and he became a partner of Behnisch & Partner in 1966. In 1980 Auer and Weber founded their own practice. Carlo Weber was a lecturer at the University of Stuttgart from 1980 to 1990 and he was professor for Building Theory and Design at the TU Dresden from 1992 to 1999. He had been a member of the Academy of the Arts in Saxony since 1996.
Fritz Auer. AUER WEBER ARCHITEKTEN
Fritz Auer, born 1933 in Tübingen, is a founder member of Auer Weber Architekten. He studied at the TH Stuttgart as well as at Cranbrook Academy of Arts in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA. He graduated in 1962 in Stuttgart. He worked for Behnisch und Lambart in Stuttgart until 1965 when he became a partner of Behnisch & Partner. In 1980 Auer and Weber left the partnership to found their own practice. Fritz Auer was professor of Building Construction and Design at the FH Munich from 1985 to 1992 and professor of Design at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design from 1993 to 2001. He has been a member of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin since 1993.
Thomas Knerer and Eva Maria Lang. KNERER UND LANG
Thomas Knerer was born in 1963 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. After he graduated he trained as a mason in Munich between 1982 and 1984 and studied from Architecture at the Technical University of Munich and the London South Bank University, 1984-1991. In 1993 he founded the architecture practice Knerer und Lang Architekten in Dresden, together with Eva Maria Lang. He has been a guest lecturer at the Education Center for Conservation and Restoration of old buildings at TU Dresden. From 1999 to 2008 he taught building construction at the West Saxon University of Zwickau (FH).
Eva Maria Lang was born in 1964 in Munich. She studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich between 1985 and 1991. From 1994 to 2001 she taught at the Technical University of Dresden and has been a guest lecturer at the Education Center for Conservation and Restoration of old buildings of the TU Dresden.
Erich MENDELSOHN
Erich Mendelsohn was born in Allenstein (Olsztyn), East Prussia. His birthplace was at the former Oberstrasse 21, now no. 10 Staromiejska street. A plaque embedded on the wall on the side of Barbara street commemorates his place of birth.
He was the fifth of six children; his mother was Emma Esther (née Jaruslawsky), a hatmaker and his father David was a shopkeeper. He attended a humanist Gymnasium in Allenstein and continued with commercial training in Berlin.
In 1906 he took up the study of national economics at the University of Munich. In 1908 he began studying architecture at the Technical University of Berlin; two years later he transferred to the Technical University of Munich, where in 1912 he graduated cum laude. In Munich he was influenced by Theodor Fischer, an architect whose own work fell between neo-classical and Jugendstil, and who had been teaching there since 1907; Mendelsohn also made contact with members of Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke, two groups of expressionist artists.
From 1912 to 1914 he worked as an independent architect in Munich. In 1915 he married the cellist Luise Maas. Between 1910 and 1953 they corresponded with each other; these materials provide insight into the lives of an artist and couple who experienced a changing international landscape, including their fleeing from the Third Reich in Germany in 1933. Through his wife, he met the cello-playing astrophysicist Erwin Finlay Freundlich. Freundlich was the brother of Herbert Freundlich, the deputy director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut für Physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie (now the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in the Dahlem district of Berlin). Freundlich wished to build a suitable astronomical observatory to experimentally confirm Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
Through his relationship with Freundlich, Mendelsohn had the opportunity to design and build the Einsteinturm ("Einstein Tower"). This relationship and also the family friendship with the Luckenwalde hat manufacturers Salomon and Gustav Herrmann helped Mendelsohn to an early success. From then until 1918, what is known of Mendelsohn is, above all, a multiplicity of sketches of factories and other large buildings, often in small format or in letters from the front to his wife, Louise Mendelsohn (née Maes) (1895–1980). The 2011 documentary film by Duki Dror titled "Incessant Visions" is about Erich Mendelsohn and his wife, in which Dror animates the memoirs of Louise and the letters.
He was the fifth of six children; his mother was Emma Esther (née Jaruslawsky), a hatmaker and his father David was a shopkeeper. He attended a humanist Gymnasium in Allenstein and continued with commercial training in Berlin.
In 1906 he took up the study of national economics at the University of Munich. In 1908 he began studying architecture at the Technical University of Berlin; two years later he transferred to the Technical University of Munich, where in 1912 he graduated cum laude. In Munich he was influenced by Theodor Fischer, an architect whose own work fell between neo-classical and Jugendstil, and who had been teaching there since 1907; Mendelsohn also made contact with members of Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke, two groups of expressionist artists.
From 1912 to 1914 he worked as an independent architect in Munich. In 1915 he married the cellist Luise Maas. Between 1910 and 1953 they corresponded with each other; these materials provide insight into the lives of an artist and couple who experienced a changing international landscape, including their fleeing from the Third Reich in Germany in 1933. Through his wife, he met the cello-playing astrophysicist Erwin Finlay Freundlich. Freundlich was the brother of Herbert Freundlich, the deputy director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut für Physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie (now the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in the Dahlem district of Berlin). Freundlich wished to build a suitable astronomical observatory to experimentally confirm Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
Through his relationship with Freundlich, Mendelsohn had the opportunity to design and build the Einsteinturm ("Einstein Tower"). This relationship and also the family friendship with the Luckenwalde hat manufacturers Salomon and Gustav Herrmann helped Mendelsohn to an early success. From then until 1918, what is known of Mendelsohn is, above all, a multiplicity of sketches of factories and other large buildings, often in small format or in letters from the front to his wife, Louise Mendelsohn (née Maes) (1895–1980). The 2011 documentary film by Duki Dror titled "Incessant Visions" is about Erich Mendelsohn and his wife, in which Dror animates the memoirs of Louise and the letters.
