The James Simon Gallery constructing, designed by Pritzker Prize 2023 winner David Chipperfield, was accomplished in December 2018. The design of the constructing is impressed by Friedrich August Stüler’s colonnades on the Alte Nationalgalerie and consists of a stone basement with a contemporary continuation of the colonnades. The preliminary designs for the James Simon Gallery featured plain cubes made from satin glass and metal, which led to varied protests. In 2004, an official panel beneficial to Parliament that the federal government abandon plans for the doorway constructing because of the controversial design. Nonetheless, in 2007, there was an in depth revision of the design, which resulted within the development of the present reception constructing.
The James Simon Gallery is a crucial addition to the Museum Island in Berlin, which is a UNESCO World Heritage web site. The gallery serves because the central entrance to the museum advanced, offering guests with entry to 5 of a very powerful museums in Germany, together with the Pergamon Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie. The constructing’s design displays the historic context of the museum advanced whereas additionally showcasing fashionable structure.
James Simon Galerie Technical Data
The architectural language of the James-Simon-Galerie adopts present parts of the Museum Island, primarily from the exterior structure, similar to constructed topography, colonnades and out of doors staircases, making reference to Schinkel, Stüler and the opposite architects concerned within the creation of Museum Island.
– David Chipperfield Architects
James Simon Galerie Images
The James-Simon-Galerie: A Gateway to Museum Island
As a continuation of Friedrich August Stüler’s discussion board structure, the James-Simon-Galerie serves as the brand new entrance constructing for Museum Island, finishing the ensemble between the Kupfergraben canal and Neues Museum. Along with the ‘Archaeological Promenade,’ it kinds the spine of the grasp plan that was developed in 1999 and adopted as the idea for all additional planning on Museum Island. The constructing is located on a slim strip of land the place Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s ‘Neuer Packhof’ administration constructing stood till 1938.
As the brand new gateway to the Museum Island, the James-Simon-Galerie performs a major function and is appropriate for welcoming giant numbers of tourists, housing all of the amenities required by the up to date museum-goer. The James-Simon-Galerie addresses itself to the Lustgarten, the Schlossbrücke (Palace Bridge), and the Kupfergraben canal. It kinds a bodily connection above floor with the Pergamon Museum and hyperlinks the museum by way of the Archaeological Promenade on the basement degree with the Neues Museum, the Altes Museum, and the Bode Museum.
A staggering of the constructing dimensions ensures that the view from the Schlossbrücke into the depths of the Museum Island and of the west façade of the Neues Museum is preserved. The excessive stone plinth of the constructing reinforces the financial institution of the Kupfergraben canal, above which a tall colonnade rises up, expressing a classical piano nobile. Massive elements of this principal degree might be accessible to the general public exterior opening hours, additional extending the general public realm of Museum Island. Slender columns turn into a leitmotif, paying homage to the well-known sketch by Friedrich Wilhelm IV for his’ cultural acropolis’.
They proceed Stüler’s colonnade that initially ended on the Neues Museum in a recent kind, creating a brand new small colonnaded courtyard between the Neues Museum and the James-Simon-Galerie. Three flights of huge steps, set between the elongated plinth and the decrease colonnade, invite guests into the constructing. Arriving on the higher degree, guests enter a beneficiant lobby with information and ticket counters and direct-level entry to the primary exhibition flooring of the Pergamon Museum. The lobby additionally encloses the cafeteria and opens out onto a grand terrace that, alongside Kupfergraben canal, runs the total size of the constructing. A mezzanine flooring beneath the primary entrance lobby accommodates the museum store, a big cloakroom, rest room amenities, and lockers, whereas the short-term exhibition areas and an auditorium are located on the basement degree.
The architectural language of the James-Simon-Galerie adopts present parts of the Museum Island, primarily from the exterior structure, similar to constructed topography, colonnades, and out of doors staircases, making reference to Schinkel, Stüler, and the opposite architects concerned within the creation of Museum Island. The materiality of the constructing in reconstituted stone with pure stone combination blends in with the wealthy materials palette of Museum Island with its limestone, sandstone, and rendered façades, whereas clean in-situ concrete dominates the inside areas.
The doorway constructing is known as after one of many metropolis’s most necessary patrons, James Simon, who bequeathed his artwork collections and excavation findings to the Berlin State Museums at the start of the 20 th century.
James Simon Galerie Plans
James Simon Galerie Picture Gallery














































About David Chipperfield Architects
David Chipperfield Architects was based in London by David Chipperfield in 1985. The observe has since received quite a few worldwide competitions and constructed over 100 initiatives. Its various worldwide physique of labor contains cultural, residential, industrial, and academic buildings and areas for each the personal and public sectors, in addition to civic initiatives and concrete masterplans.
Workplaces in London, Berlin, Milan, and Shanghai contribute to a variety of initiatives and typologies. Collectively, the 4 places of work drive widespread architectural ambitions and share a dedication to the collaborative side of making structure. The observe’s work is characterised by meticulous consideration to the idea and particulars of each undertaking and a relentless deal with refining design concepts to reach at an answer that’s architecturally, socially, and intellectually coherent.
David Chipperfield Architects has received greater than 100 worldwide awards and citations for design excellence, together with the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2007 for The Museum of Fashionable Literature in Marbach, Germany, and each the Mies van der Rohe Award (European Union Prize for Up to date Structure) and the Deutscher Architekturpreis in 2011 for the Neues Museum, Berlin.
Other Works from David Chipperfield
- Contractor firm title: Wenzel + Wenzel GmbH
- Amount Surveyor/ Value Marketing consultant: Christine Kappei
- Amount Surveyor/Value Marketing consultant: Christine Kappei
- Structural Engineers: IGB Ingenieurgruppe Bauen
- Panorama Architects: Levin Monsigny Landschaftsarchitekten
- Lighting Design: Conceptlicht GmbH
- Venture Controlling: Ernst & Younger Actual Property GmbH
- Venture Controlling: Kemmermann Projektmanagement im Bauwesen GmbH & Co. KG
- Environmental / M&E Engineers: INNIUS DÖ GmbH
- Environmental / M&E Engineers: Inros Lackner AG
- Constructing Physics: Müller-BBM GmbH
- Fireplace Marketing consultant: Arge Brandschutz NEG
- Lighting Marketing consultant: matí AG
- Exhibition Planning: Duncan McCauley GmbH und Co. KG
- Signage: Polyform – Götzelmann Middel GbR