Museum of Architectural Graphics, Berlin

Architects: Ulrike Graefenhain, Szergej Tschoban, Szergej Kuznetsov
Text: Eszter Götz
Photos: Roland Halbe, S. Tschoban Foundation

The museum of architectural graphics is intended for placing and exposition of collections of Sergey Tchoban Fund. The foundation was established in 2009 by architect Sergei Tchoban of Moscow-based SPEECH. Most of the practice’s work consists of large-scale commercial projects in Russia and the former Soviet republics, but it was also behind the Russian Pavilion at 2012 Venice Biennale with its installation of QR codes and iCity.
The city authorities of Berlin granted the small plot occupied by one-floor building of plant garage until recently for the construction of Museum. The new building of the museum will adjoin to fire wall of four-floors house located next to it. Forced neighborhood and placing in the conditions of existing development dictated unusual space planning composition of the Museum. The space compact in the plan rises to the mark of neighboring roof ridge forming five blocks clear extracted from the building body that remind stack of boxes displaced relative to each other. Higher storey is decorated by mirror glass, and facades of four lower blocks are made of ornamentally dressed concrete panels, part of which will be covered by vertical flutes at the forming stage, and imaginary architectural landscapes will be imprinted in relief on some panels. This artistic device is destined to stress the function and substance of the museum in its architectural aspect. Of the building’s altogether 498 m² of usable area, approximately 200 m² are devoted to exhibition purposes, including the museum counter and shop.

Leading architect: Ulrike Graefenhain
Architects: Szergej Tchoban, Szergej Kuznetsov
Fellow architects: Dirk Kollendt, N. Fedorova, Frederik S. Scholz
Client: S. Tchoban Foundation