MKM Museum Küppersmühle by Herzog & de Meuron reached completion

Following a four-year construction, the Extension to the Küppersmühle Museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, has now reached completion.

From September 25, 2021, the museum will throw open its doors to visitors once again.

Bricks on the outside, White Cube on the inside. The MKM extension combines industrial culture with contemporary museum architecture. In keeping with the original conversion of the historical grain mill into a museum (1999), Herzog & de Meuron have once again taken their cue from the existing MKM building and the architecture of the Inner Harbour. Three structures of varying height continue the museum to form a new main edifice, which harmoniously rounds off the row of buildings flanking the harbour basin. With its striking redbrick façade, the new extension terminates in a square boasting 35 newly-planted sycamore trees - a green urban oasis.

In the interior, a sequence 36 brightly-lit and clearly-structured collection rooms provide the ideal, spacious setting for the exhibited art works. As part of the extension construction, the historic silos were also refurbished and integrated into the new structure, from which bridges on the first and second upper-levels forge a connection between the new and existing galleries.

Both in respect of their exterior appearance and their original material, the silos themselves have been preserved as an industrial monument. A platform on the silos, which, depending on the time of year and the weather, is accessible to the public, offers a sweeping view over the Ruhr region.

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