NOTES
Bunker hall with concrete columns

Berlin, Germany

The Feuerle Collection

This private museum occupies a former Second World War telecommunications bunker, renovated by the British architect to house a collection that sets international contemporary artists beside Imperial Chinese furniture and ancient Southeast Asian art. The pairing encourages a conversation between periods and cultures and offers another way of seeing ancient work.

For the architect, few places are as charged with atmosphere as these monumental concrete structures, which recall the engineers architecture admired by Donald Judd. From the first visit, the visceral experience of mass called for the lightest possible hand. Rather than pristine new surfaces, the work became a slow sequence of subtle refinements that intensify the space so that attention falls on the art.

The museum covers 6,480 square metres, with two main exhibition halls on the ground and lower ground floors and a separable space for temporary exhibitions. It opened in October 2016, after a preview week and a summer as one of the main venues of the ninth edition of the city’s biennale for contemporary art.

Project Information

Design studio
John Pawson
Area
6,480 m²
Time
2016
Type
Cultural, Renovation
Primary materials
Concrete
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Sculpture in the dark hall
Credit: Holger Niehaus, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Sculptures among concrete columns
Credit: Holger Niehaus, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Stone bench in the vast hall
Credit: Holger Niehaus, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Bench below a framed work
Credit: Holger Niehaus, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Low table under a framed work
Credit: Holger Niehaus, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Stone table and framed work
Credit: Holger Niehaus, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Bench beneath a small framed work
Credit: Holger Niehaus, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Low bench in a pool of light
Credit: Holger Niehaus, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Standing figure lit in the dark
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Figure in a lit doorway
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Bronze figure before a brick wall
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Furniture against a dark wall
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Lit chair and table in the dark
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Daybed in a warmly lit room
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Chair beneath a framed work
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Red table under a framed work
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Low platform beneath an artwork
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection
Water basin in a dark room
Credit: Nic Tenwiggenhorn, courtesy of The Feuerle Collection

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