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The Story of the Abegg-Stiftung Building Programme
From the Early Days to the 1990s The exhibition has changed its appearance several times since the museum first opened in 1967. Whereas it was originally set up facing the windows so that the exhibits were flooded in light and the sections separated only by low partitions, the need to shield the delicate historical textiles from light soon necessitated an adaptation of this layout. Whole areas were sealed off from daylight and henceforth arranged as a sequence of closed units, each with its own distinctive materials or colour scheme. As the textile collection grew in the 1980s and 1990s, additional rooms were added and the interiors decorated according to their times. Consequently, the coherent overall design of the original premises was slowly lost over the years. Open Competition Having decided to modernize its exhibition areas, the board of the Abegg-Stiftung launched an open competition in 2006. What was sought was not ideas for a new building, but rather concepts and proposals regarding how the 1100 m2 of exhibition space already in existence might be reorganized and remodelled. The winning project was MITRA, by Hanspeter Wespi, an OTIA architect from Gordola. The jury realized that his concept of free-standing wall elements would create to fluid, but clearly structured thematic spaces that could be defined by theme, thus allowing for cross-references through time and space. Project Development The Zurich-based firm of architects OAP Offermann Architektur & Projektmanagement was then engaged to further develop and later implement plans based on Wespi's designs. It transpired, for example, that there would have to be major changes to the existing structure. Once the scale of the work required became apparent, it was decided that the project presented a unique opportunity to create additional space and modernize the entire wing. But as the project itself grew, so the original construction period grew longer. Schedule Construction commenced in the summer of 2009 when part of the old annex was torn down to make way for a new, two-storey building. The main building that had been left standing then had to be fully modernized and adapted to match the new structure. By the autumn of 2010, the shell was standing. The two parts of the complex, the old and the new, were joined together to form a spacious hall with a self-supporting ceiling. The work on the interior was completed in late May 2011. After a construction period of just over two years, the Abegg-Stiftung now has at its disposal a spacious and modern exhibition hall, whose harmonious interior reconciles the light-filled largesse of the 1960s with the requirements of contemporary conservation, while at the same time ensuring the flexibility needed for future changes. Fact Sheet on the Modernization of the Museum Wing |
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