2009 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Page 76: The opening
of the Kleiner Schlosshof
in January 2009
I NVISI B LE AN D
VISI B LE ARCH ItECtU RE
The Albertinum as a building
site: The roof of the new bridge
structure is already in place.
The architect Volker Staab called his new structure intended
as a storeroom and workshop building for the
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden an “invisible building”.
And the building really is invisible to the public eye,
even though the building site is located in the heart of the
city and construction work has advanced rapidly during
2009. High above what used to be the open inner courtyard
of the Albertinum is a two-storey “Ark for Art”, which has
no visible support pillars. Apparently effortlessly, it fits
between the level of the eaves and the ridge of the roof,
so that it cannot be seen from outside – except from the
air or from the dome of the nearby Frauenkirche. The
purpose is not to conceal architecture but rather to fulfil
the ambitious aim of constructing a flood-proof storeroom
and workshop building. At the same time, the goal was to
create as much space as possible. The spectacular structure
designed by Volker Staab does both: its two expansive
floors provide optimum working conditions for the restorers
of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and can
also accommodate thousands of paintings. Furthermore,
it gives Dresden a huge new indoor space, a covered foyer
with an area of 1200 m², a large meeting hall that can be
passed through on the way from the Frauenkirche to the
Brühlsche Terrasse, a venue for museum events – a great
stage, backdrop and auditorium in one.
In 2010 the whole of the Albertinum, including the “invisible
building”, will be handed over after having been
The bridge structure covers over
the formerly open inner courtyard
of the Albertinum.
completely restored and refurbished under the guidance
of the state-owned enterprise Sächsisches Immobilien-
und Baumanagement (SIB). In June 2010 the famous
Skulpturensammlung and the much-missed Galerie Neue
Meister will be returning. Art from the Romantic period to
the present day will then have a new (but well-known)
location. The visitors will stream into the Albertinum, fill
the foyer and see the reflective ceiling which is the disguised
bottom of the new structure. However, they will
have no intimation of the steel latticework structure that
holds up the 2,700 tonne building. Glass and metal will
“camouflage” the huge steel structure.
What will be visible, by contrast, is another roof – just as
spectacular but quite different. In the Residenzschloss the
challenge was to construct a canopy over a courtyard with
an irregular ground plan. This was complicated above all
by the fact that some of the Renaissance gables of various
heights reach almost to the ridge of the roof. The brilliant
solution – that of installing the canopy at the level of the
ridge – constituted an immense challenge for the stress
analysts, engineers and architects involved. In a long and
complicated planning and construction process, a technical
masterpiece was achieved which has been admired by
experts and acclaimed in the specialist press.
Among the general public the project was somewhat
controversial – until the day of its opening, that is. After
that, most of the critics fell silent, since the symbiosis of
the Renaissance facades and the modern canopy is so
indisputably successful. By covering a previously little-used
courtyard with a transparent and apparently light membrane,
this space with its Renaissance facades and gables
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