24.04.2023
In Berlin-Friedrichshagen, a multifunctional storage facility featuring the latest in storage and climate-control technology is being constructed for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. This compact new building will bring together the storage facilities of the various collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in one building, with each of the facilities paired with an adjoining workshop. Overseen by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR), planning for the new project got underway in 2011. Today, the ceremonial topping-out “crown” was hoisted above the shell of the first section of the building.
The Zentraldepot of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin will bring together the storage facilities and workshops of the museum network – which are currently strewn across the city – at one location, along with a long-term archive for digital objects. The Kaiserslautern-based architectural firm AV1 Architekten designed the building, which is being constructed in two phases. Construction of the first section began in 2019. This section comprises some 13,500 square metres of floor space, with the second, significantly larger section of the building to be completed at a later date.
When both sections of the building are complete, the entire construction will consist of six structures, which will be connected by way of a three-metre-wide, internal, passageway in the form of an infinity sign. The entire complex will contain multiple storage facilities of up to 1,000 square metres in size, equipped with modern storage and climate-control technology. The various units will be intricately connected with one another, and the joint use of the site will enable a centralization of the workplaces and storage facilities. Each of the storage facilities and workshops will also have their own, small offices.
The first construction phase will include two structures, which will house the collections of the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Kunstgewerbemuseum, the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, the Vorderasiatisches Museums, the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung and the Antikensammlung, along with the that of the Museum für Islamische Kunst. Upon completion of both phases of construction, the holdings of other collections in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin network will also be housed in storage facilities here, and restored and cared for in the material-specific workshops located on site.
In the photo studio and along the so-called digitisation alley, the collections will be photographically documented and digitised. In the basement, a long-term digital archive for all the institutions of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz will be installed.
In 2023–24, the focus of the construction work will be on the completion of the interior and the technical infrastructure. Once this is complete, the focus will move to the outdoor facilities. Construction work is slated to finish in 2024, followed by the launch of operations, the handover to the users of the site, and the transfer of the collections.
