Angelika Kauffmann Museum, Schwarzenberg (AT)
Further construction, Historic preservation

Client: Gemeinde Schwarzenberg
Location: A-6867 Schwarzenberg, Brand 34
Architecture: Dietrich Untertrifaller
Construction: 2006 – 2007
Area: 315 m²
Programme: Foyer, exhibition room

Photos: Bruno Klomfar

Team
Bernhard Breuer, Raphael Grups  

Text: Gerlinde Jüttner

Partners
Statics: Merz Kaufmann Partner, Dornbirn
Building services: Klimaplan, Hohenems
Electrics: Lingg, Schoppernau
Building physics: Weithas, Hard
Timber construction: Berchthold, Schwarzenberg
Site management: Baukultur, Schwarzenberg

Awards

  • International Architectural Restauration Prize, Award
  • BTV Bauherrenpreis , Award

Farmhouse outside, museum inside

On the hillside to the west of the village centre, there are two small museums in a historic, carefully maintained farm house from the 16th century. The old residential part serves as a local history museum. The new Angelika Kauffmann Museum fills the former agricultural wing and is accessed via the barn and threshing floor. A wide sliding partition can be pushed aside and the museum is open. When it is closed, the modern wood and glass construction is no longer visible.

The exhibition hall was inserted into the barn as a flat-roofed "building within a building". Space-forming elements define the exhibition hall, but also evoke the former farm building – a sophisticated architectural dialogue.

With their meticulous work, the craftsmen – rooted in local tradition yet are familiar with the latest technology – put the finishing touches to the project. All the parts fit together and blend into the long building history of the house.

A wide sliding partition can be pushed aside and the museum is open. When it is closed, the modern wood and glass construction is no longer visible.

A foyer rich in contrast

The foyer, which extends up to the roof and is nine meters high, lies behind a wide glass wall, as if the gate to the barn had been left open. In the foyer, the fixtures made of light silver fir wood enter into an exciting dialogue with the dark rear wall of the farmhouse and the old roof beams.

The new beams required to support the roof loads are made of steel profiles – to distinguish them from the old carpentry. The floor of rough-sawn fir planks extends from the entrance into the exhibition hall.

The artist Angelika Kauffmann (1741-1807), who became famous in London and Rome, came from the village of Schwarzenberg in the “Bregenzerwald”. This is why the municipality wanted to dedicate a museum to the painter. A traditional "Bregenzer Wälderhaus" was chosen as the ideal location.

Support-free exhibition hall

Columns also had to be removed in the exhibition space and the entire supporting structure had to be adapted. The solution was a thermally insulated hall that was decoupled from the façades. The roof now rests on lateral steel frames, that transfer the vertical and horizontal forces into the floor. The side walls are divided into three shallow niches, with glazed slits between them providing views of the old walls.

Besides theft and fire protection, we also had to provide a controlled indoor climate and professional lighting, as well as a foyer with reception desk, toilets, office and kitchenette for the staff. All of the work was carried out in accordance with the local preservation order: In principle, we were not allowed to make any changes to the building envelope, which therefore remained uninsulated. As a matter of fact, the new use of the building is barely visible from the outside.

The technical rooms are located above the newly installed ceiling of the exhibition space. Tiny openings in the ceiling conceal smoke detectors; ventilation is provided by two narrow outlets on the long sides. These slits run directly next to the hall lighting and look more like a gap than a technical installation. You won't even find a light switch: the lighting is controlled via a control panel in the foyer.

Floor plan L0
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