UK architects Caruso St John have won a competition for the renovation of Germany’s Kunsthalle Bielefeld, the only European museum designed by modernist architect Philip Johnson, completed in 1968.
Work on the Kunsthalle will include renovating the building’s envelope, plus the addition and reconfiguring of gallery space to accommodate large-scale works, installation, film and multimedia.
Educational facilities and offices, meeting rooms and storage, will also be added.
The changes will allow the museum to stay open during changeover between exhibitions.
A listed building, the Kunsthalle has undergone multiple renovations but remains similar to the original development.
The museum’s collection contains mainly contemporary and expressionist works, featuring pieces from Picasso, Henry Moore and Rodin.
The International Style museum has a façade of red sandstone and currently has 1,200-sq-m of exhibition space.
The city of Bielefeld aims to make its buildings almost fully climate-neutral by 2030, with the Kunsthalle renovation planning to use resource-saving approaches to building work.
