Lenbachhaus, Munich

Built as a studio and villa for the artist Franz von Lenbach between 1887 and 1891, the Lenbachhaus Museum has been gradually extended over the last century. Untouched since 1972, and with visitor numbers progressively increasing to 280,000 a year, the museum currently lacks the facilities to cater to an ever widening audience. The sympathetic restoration of the building will maintain the character of the historic facade with its ochre render, while the new and converted elements will be wrapped in a curtain of yellow-bronze tubes, using colour to reinforce the relationship between old and new.

Foster + Partners design for the Lenbachhaus Museum in Munich demonstrates a clear philosophy about contemporary interventions in historical structures, which was established with the Reichstag in Berlin and the Great Court at the British Museum. The ‘Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus’ is currently being remodelled, extended and its many layers of history peeled back to reinvent the museum for the 21st Century. New galleries will be created for the magnificent “Blue Rider” collection, existing galleries will be upgraded, the overall circulation pattern enhanced and new facilities provided, including a major restaurant and café with outdoor dining facilities.

Circulation through the building will be redefined, the historic garden entrance retained and a new accessible entrance from the square inserted to improve connections within the museum, and to allow direct access to the café and public facilities independently of the galleries. The facilities will be part of a new contemporary pavilion with two levels of galleries above ground level. The later extensions that currently obscure the original villa will be removed to create a new three-storey entrance hall. This area will function as a central circulation space, information point and the social heart of the museum. Finally, a contemporary building on Richard-Wagner Street will be inserted in place of the 1972 wing.



Client: City of Munich, Cultural Department, Building Construction, Landtag des Freistaats Bayern
Consultants: Sailer Stepan & Partner GmbH, Ingenieurbüro Robert Ottitsch (HLS + RLT) / PEG GmbH (Elektro), Burger Landschaftsarchitekten, LichtKunstLicht, CBP Cronauer, DU Diederichs Projektmanagement