Celtic Museum / kadawittfeldarchitektur

Architects: kadawittfeldarchitektur
Location: Glauburg, Germany
Project Managers: Oliver Venghaus (architecture), Ben Beckers (exhibition design)
Client: Federal State of Hessen represented by HMWK and HBM
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 2,190 sqm (GFA)
Photographs: Werner Huthmacher

This project is a museum for Celtic art, and is in direct proximity to a historic burial mound. Similar to an excavated archaeological find, the metal body of the museum juts out from the landscape and forms a counterpart to the burial mound. More of a mysterious object itself rather than architecture, the museum should be stumbled upon by its visitors as a marker of landscape discovery.

The Celtic Museum is a clearly contoured and distinct volume, blending in with the surrounding landscape. Partly inserted into the slope, it projects itself towards the burial mound. Its vital function as an element of the landscape, the museum building amplifies the burial mound’s leading role. Underneath the main volume, one finds the foyer and the café and adjoining rooms as well. Here begins and ends the exploration of the museum’s archaeological trail.

Section

A staircase-ramp guides the visitor into the exhibition. In the end, one finds a panoramic window, offering an impressive view of the burial mound, incorporating it into the exhibition itself. The roof acts also as an observation deck onto the scenic landscape and the skies above – so that the surroundings can be “discovered.”