The museum MARTA was located in the small city of Herford, about one hour from Hanover in the heartland of Germany. In response to the modest scale of the context, we approached the design of the museum as a “large house for the community”, rather than a monument to the city.
As a condition of the site, the project was required to incorporate an existing building (rectangular volume in the middle) that was a former city museum. We proposed to refurbish it as the main entry for MARTA. The new galleries would be located on both sides, creating a new entry plaza in the center. On one side (bottom of models), a larger group of galleries would be organized around a central temporary exhibition space. On the opposite side (top of models), a multi-purpose space could be programmed for exhibition as well as other public events.
The new galleries were configured as a cluster of inter-connected pavilions, animated by skylights on top. The sketch model on the left showed this idea as rectilinear volumes; the model on the right developed the skylight forms further with curved surfaces to better interact with natural light.
The MARTA galleries were designed to have a variety of ceiling and wall heights. A cluster of three galleries has walls of 4M for the permanent collection (image on left), while another cluster of two galleries has 5.5M walls for larger works and sculptures (image on right).
The large temporary exhibition space in the center was articulated with vertical walls of 7M, gently sloping up to a central skylight at its apex at 20M. This space would have a 20M x 20M square footprint and concrete floor finish, and was envision to be used for large-scale installations. A lighting track for both up and down lights hung from the ceiling, like a chandelier for the space.
To further reinforce MARTA’s civic identity, we have decided to use brick as the primary exterior material to better relate to the other public buildings in Herford. The gently sloping roofs would be clad in zinc, a common roofing material in Germany (and in this part of Europe).
The clusters of the brick pavilions with their gently curving facades provided animation to the street front. An opening along the street elevation would invite visitors to the entry plaza.
The scale of the entry plaza, finished in brick, was designed to have the scale and intimacy of an outdoor room. A new stainless steel signage attached to the refurbished entry building, announced the new facade of MARTA.
A small café was located in the back of the site to take advantage of its adjacency to a small creek flowing through the center of town. The café would be equipped with operable glass panels that could be opened in the summer months.
Since the museum opened, the galleries have accommodated a variety of exhibitions, from painting to sculpture and photography.
And the multi-purpose gallery has also hosted exhibitions as well as concerts and public forums.
The central temporary exhibition gallery has invited many artists to make site-specific installations as well as smaller scale exhibitions.
Many people believe that the architecture of the museum should be neutral to let the art speaks for itself. I think that MARTA has demonstrated that through rigorous and thoughtful design process, we can create a museum that has a strong voice, yet sensitive the community and be respectful to the arts.
The projects in this section were designed and executed during my time at Gehry Partners LLP (the office). I am grateful to Mr. Gehry and the team at the office for their generosity and support over the years. All intellectual property rights of these projects continue to be owned by the office unless otherwise mentioned. The narrative texts on the projects are entirely personal, they do not represent the views or opinions of the office, its clients or any other third party or organization.