Architecture
Workshop (AAC - Academy for Architectural Culture)
Museum
Tobias Benjamin Bosse
Nguyen Viet Tien
Huang Lili
Hamburg, Germany
2015
Johann von Mansberg
Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Dipl.-Ing. Meinhard von Gerkan (President of the AAC) and Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Nikolaus Goetze
More than a revival of the former Natural History Museum—destroyed in 1943—the Evolutioneum aims to unite research, collections, and exhibitions within a single building. It will serve as both a public cultural space and a professional scientific facility.
The project, initiated by Hamburg University in collaboration with CeNak, focuses on three core components: sensory-rich exhibition spaces, a non-public research cluster, and a compact, accessible storage area.
There are currently two different scenarios in terms of the selection of a site for the Evolutioneum – one is the historic building of the former telecommunications office in the direct urban context of the Rotherbaum district. This is perfectly suited to an important cultural use owing to its large-scale construction and direct proximity to the university campus. The other is the western point of the Baakenhafen quay, which has all the characteristics of a symbolic and highly conspicuous site for a museum building built by the water.
The first workshop documented here deals with the new building on the waterfront.
In 1943, the museum building was destroyed during World War II air raids and never rebuilt. Its legacy continued with the opening of the Zoological Museum Hamburg in 1983.
Our first exercise began with a visit to the site—a striking plot of land surrounded by water on three sides, with Hamburg and its harbor as a constant presence in the background. Without knowledge of the program or constraints, we were asked to respond intuitively to the site in a study called "Charette."
My initial approach was to explore how natural history collections were historically displayed. This led me to the Cabinest of Curiosities—intimate chambers filled with objects meant to inspire wonder and inquiry. This principle informed the spatial strategy of the museum: alternating between small, narrow rooms and large, open volumes for displaying larger artifacts. The interplay between these contrasting scales creates a rhythm—and at times a tension—throughout the exhibition, echoing the sense of discovery that defines the experience of natural history itself.
The visitor is given the choice between two contrasting ways to the level of exhibition: Four twin sets of glazed elevators mean rapid connection, whilst a generously looping ramp takes the visitor on a slower orbit allowing for different viewpoints into the showcase of col- lections.
The outer appearance of the museum is much generated from the inner functions: the vivid shape of the roofscape results from the exhibition spaces, while the research level is a pure, rectangular block layer.