Old school New England 92 - Scanorama

AUTOBAHN
to both Porsche and Mercedes.
Jeremy Clarkson, presenter of the popular British car show
Top Gear, once said Porsche’s design team was “the laziest in
the world.” Porsche’s consistent design, to put it mildly, is of
course one of its strengths but it also makes its exhibition a trifle
predictable.
On the other hand, Porsche is possibly the German marque
with the most dedicated fans. Here they rely on the cars. Men of
varying ages – because it is mostly men, with one or two compliant
girlfriends – crawl reverently up through the spiral-shaped
building. Many take a few steps back to really soak up the cars’
curves and designs.
Astrid Böttinger, public relations manager at the Porsche
Museum, says: “We have tried to create a classic museum, not
an amusement park. The cars are the stars, and they speak for
themselves.”
But that’s not strictly true. The cars get some serious competition
from the building, designed by Austrian architects
Delugan Meissl. Sharp, ship-like shapes and materials such as
concrete, steel and mirror glass create a hypermodern building
in stark contrast to the otherwise sleepy little Stuttgart suburb
of Zuffenhausen. If Porsche’s design team can be criticized for
being inhibited or conservative, the same hardly applies to the
architects. The museum shows from the ground up that Porsche
has a daring vision for the future. If the car exhibition, understandably,
is retrospective, there is no doubt that the building
is meant to demonstrate that Porsche will be a force to be reckoned
with for many years to come.
In the driving seat: Behind the wheel of a
DKW 3=6 Sonderklasse F91 at Audi
Italians Mauro Mignalio and Fabio Vaseci are true car enthusiasts.
Their patriotism doesn’t allow them to say anything other
than that Ferrari builds the world’s best cars. But Porsche seems
to pass muster too. Although when it comes to museums, they
have another favorite.
“Mercedes’ museum is actually quite a bit sharper. Porsche’s
is beautiful and exciting, but there is more to see at Mercedes,”
Mignalio says.
MERCEDES-BENZ’S GIGANTIC MUSEUM stands out from the others
in two ways. First, it was a Dutchman, not an Austrian, who
designed it; Ben van Berkel also created the hyper-futuristic
Theater Agora in Lelystad. Second, it is the only museum store
of the four that does not sell a logo-adorned portable humidor
for $550.
Luay, Ahmad and Ahmad from Syria also stick out. Most of the
visitors to southern Germany’s car museums are petrol heads,
or “auto freaks” as they are called here, but instead of staring
at chrome trim and rearview mirrors they point upward, gazing
at the high ceiling. The trio study architecture in Damascus
and have come to Stuttgart to check out the Mercedes-Benz and
Porsche museums.
“Van Berkel is a great inspiration, so we came here more to
see the building than the cars,” Luay says.
Luay and his buddies are most impressed by the flow of the
ex hibition, by the way you move almost seamlessly between
the different themes and decades as you progress downward
through the circular building. You almost become blind to its
54 DECEMBER 2011/JANUARY 2012 SCANORAMA
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