Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin

I am very glad that several of my best friends are coming to visit me this year. The first group – Ah-V and her family, my best friend I made since I was born, are coming by the end of August. I am motivated to update my blog by writing some city sightseeing. So I start with Berlin, one of my favorite cities in Europe, which Ah-V will visit. This afternoon I video phoned my best college friend Sheep, who has just arrived in Philadelphia as a visiting researcher at the Pennsylvania University. She is going to Washington, D.C. to visit our common best friend in the coming days. One stop must be I. M. Pei’s East Building of National Gallery of Art. I am jealous of her and would like to recap my visits to German History Museum in Berlin.

Deutsches Historisches Museum is located at a corner and a little hidden from the Boulevard Unter den Linden, as an extension of the existing museum building in new classical style after German Reunion. It should be the first architecture of 贝聿铭 in Germany. I discovered it by chance as I visited Berlin for the first time, because it could be recognized at first glance. The museum was already closed at that time and I went there additionally on the other morning and took a lot of non-digital pictures then. The common elements that Mr. Pei uses in most of his architecture are exposed in a more elegant way. It is a small museum in comparison to Mr. Pei’s other museum designs and is just located on a small street. So it is difficult to take a photo of the whole view from the narrow street. However, it does highlight its uniqueness and elegance. Mr. Pei applies a glass spiral cone at the building entrance which gives the simple geometry building some smartish flavor. Inside it is just a small rest area for visitors who can also experience the orchestrating of light and shadows in sunshine. The indoor space is free flowing with escalators, staircases and flyovers. The front huge curve glass walls make a composition of light and shadows on the concrete slabs and walls. Concrete slabs are indispensible in order to project the light and shadows from the transparent glasses. So it is somehow boring to construct buildings with only glasses or with only concrete slabs. Light and shadows make the architectural experiences changing at different daytime.

Triangle motif is one of favorite elements of I. M. Pei, which is repeated in this museum to enhance the flowing ambience. Besides, a large circle opening is used together with the flyovers, which is quite traditional Chinese. It symbolizes completeness and perfectness. Thus, the circle opening as well as the smooth glass and wall curves are re-lived by the triangles everywhere on the one hand. On the other hand, they smooth the potential visual conflicts caused by the triangles. Mr. Pei is good at using contrast. However, visitors can feel a kind of modesty and amiability and close interaction between human and architecture. The architectural details are elaborated as well. For example, the handrails are engraved in the concrete walls, so that no other material is needed. The pureness, the simplicity, and the delight make German History Museum a masterpiece of modern architecture indeed. If Berlin is visited, a visit to the museum is worthwhile.

Red Dot Design Museum, Essen

As we had a pleasant institute excursion to Zeche Zollverein in Essen, one of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, on May 30, I happened to discover the colocated Red Dot Design Museum. Various industrial products design, ranging from stationery, home appliance, to machinery is exhibited. The annualred dot design award is granted. The jury evaluates the competitors according to the following four principles: innovation degree, funktionality und environmental friendliness and compatibility.
In short, the red dot design principle is that design is fuction oriented, the same as the Bauhaus design theory Forms follow Function. So is the museum building: simple and unremarkable. It was built in 1930s as a boiler building for the new Shaft 12 to enhance cole mining in the Ruhr Area. The whole Shaft 12 buildings designed by Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer are of the Bauhaus style. After the last mining in 1986, the boiler building is no more needed, either. Sir Norman Foster renovate it into a museum, which maches the notorious red dot design. The most exhibits are displayed in the old industrial building, while visitors are led in the new flowing corridors started on the first floor. The corridors are actually just kind of fly-over in white slabs or in glass. Beside the corridors, there are also some exhibtion areas. Spirally, visitors can go to the forth floor which has also the smallest square. The spaces are smaller than a floor lower.
The internal spaces are communicative between the new and the old in a horizontal as well as a vertical way. Led by the fly-over, visitors have the best paths to visit all exhibits. There's no splendid spacious effects, while a dialogue between the old parts and the new one can be perceived quietly and sharply. Sir Norman Foster made it and told every visitors that museums can also be simple except for being exaggerated. It was a little warm inside, because of the closeness of the old building, maybe because of the boiler essential. With regard to the exhibits, many of them are listed in the catelogue and are available on the market.

Langen Foundation, Hombroich

I have heard of the Langen Foundation Museum located near Duesseldorf since it was about to be opened in 2004. This spring I visited it with friends in a sunny Easter Sunday. It was a little cold, however, splendid since it was the only sunny day in a long period of early spring.
A long narrow field path leads to the museum as well as the rocket station (sign: Raketenstation), which can only be droven by visitors, with green grasses and spring ambience around. Suddenly, we saw a special stone statue, then the glass cube flying on water, and cherry blossom in lines. It is the unique museum by Tadao Ando. And as usual, it is built of glass, beton slabs and water (if available), which integrates light perfectly. The outcoming rhythm of light and shadow on betons as well as in water can even make air much fresher. Simple geometry forms were composed in an interesting way, to shape interial spaces. Contasts between the static (beton) and dynamic (water), solidness (beton) and transparency (glass), white (beton) and green (grass) make a strong visual effect.
The Langen Foundation Museum mainly consists of a beton slab in C-curve with several door holes to welcome visitors in a neutral way, a beton cube in a glass cube for the exibition, and some small beton blocks for administration. All these three parts are located on a large free-style water pool and grasses organically. Surely, white gravel or sand is indispensible for as the bases, which is always used in Zen Garden to symbolize water. The main large exhibition hall is underground.
The Japanese collection was not shown, while a small Indian acient collection, Karl Lagerfeld's photography were on exhibition. Karl Lagerfeld's photos mostly show some abstract concepts or pattern in black and white. Some photos are about Zaha Hadid's mobile architecture, also in black and white. The concept is also brand new.
We went to Ratingen without visiting the Museum Island (Museuminsel) in Hombroich.