Invited design competition for obtaining planning proposals for the redesign of the Diocesan Museum on Domberg in Freising

Extract from the competition statement:

The Diocesan Museum Freising, Diocesan Museum for Christian Art of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising (DMF for short), is one of the largest church museums in the world. Its spectrum covers all important areas of religious art and culture and all epochs of European art history, from Romanesque to contemporary art. The collection is of international importance due to the quantity and quality of the objects and is also perceived as an important institution in the professional world. (…)

The DMF is located in the west of Domberg and has a gross floor area of approx. 9,000 m². From 1868 onwards, the building was erected as a  minor seminary  and was used as such until the end of the 1960s. In 1974 the Diocesan Museum was established in the historical building of the minor seminary .

The construction has been stopped since July 2013 due to existing fire protection law problems and an unexplained construction permit law situation. The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising (…) would now like to use this situation with the fire protection technology of the building and the clarification of the building permit, to refurbish the building extensively and to redesign it architecturally.

Design strategy

The atmosphere of the minor seminary is still noticeable, but the premises generally have a structure suitable for the museum. The organisational program does not require any additional space. Therefore the design strategy aims to achieve the transformation of the house to the museum by spatial subtractions in order to dissolve the hermetic character of the building. This affects both the inner structure and the external appearance.

The historical type of the façade is found in the Venetian Pallazzi, which creates atypically large façade openings through loggias and balconies without impairing the façade as a whole. The strategy of space subtractions / loggias has different effects on the floors and generates specific qualities depending on the direction of the sky, the view and the function.