Renovation of the Neue Nationalgalerie completed
David Chipperfield Architects relies on design by Dornbracht

The flat building made of steel and glass is considered an icon of modern architecture. The architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) created the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin at the end of the 1960s as a museum for 20th century art. Alongside Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was one of the founders of modern architecture. His architecture was dedicated to the expression of constructive logic and spatial freedom in classical form. To this end, he developed modern supporting structures made of steel, which enabled a high degree of variability in the usable spaces and large-scale glazing of the façades. He also became famous as a representative of minimalism in architecture, expressed by the formula “less is more”.

The renovation project under the direction of David Chipperfield Architects took more than five years. In challenging detail work and with the aim of preserving as much historic building fabric as possible, the team of architects succeeded in dismantling the listed landmark into many thousands of individual parts without damaging the visual integrity of the monument.

“As a long-standing partner for architecture, design and art, direct exchange is a matter of course for us and of great importance. Collaborations have always given us important impulses for product development. Our claim ‘Leading Designs for Architecture’ expresses this bond,” says Stefan Gesing, CEO of Dornbracht, summarising this partnership.

On 29 April 2021, the reopening of the Neue Nationalgalerie will be celebrated with a symbolic handover of the keys. The first exhibition with works by the US artist Alexander Calder (1898-1976) is planned for August 2021. The total cost of the renovation measures was around 140 million euros.