Bildlabor Kleistpark

To realise the vision of an experimental and participatory discourse on art, a new exhibition space is being created in Berlin’s Schöneberg district. At the Bildlabor Kleistpark, exhibitions will be expanded, altered or curated anew in collaboration with visitors. Designed as a ‘show depot’, this repository of knowledge primarily houses works on paper dating from the 15th century to the present day.
The programme of the new building is complemented by a café, studios and spaces for arts-related businesses and residential use, creating an inviting and vibrant hub of urban culture and creative exchange.

The Bildlabor is being built on a small, previously undeveloped corner plot that marks the transition from a closed perimeter block development to large, listed landmark buildings on the edges of Kleistpark. Within this heterogeneous urban landscape, the composition of interlocking volumes of varying proportions creates a sculptural quality and a powerful expression for the building. At the same time, the staggered setbacks facilitate integration into the urban context. The varying building heights and widths of the neighbouring listed buildings are taken into account, and the sightlines towards the adjacent building on Kleistpark – the former Botanical Museum – are considered.

The design of the building’s form creates a forecourt. This serves to establish the building’s identity and anchors the collection as the primary exhibition space within the urban landscape. It is visually and functionally linked to the ground-floor foyer via a large display window. The counterpart to the town square is the Secret Garden, a sunken courtyard at the rear of the site. As a contemplative retreat, it creates a connection to the outdoors for the exhibition halls and the library in the building’s basement.
The town square and the Secret Garden are complemented by a series of successive garden chambers, whose intimate atmosphere houses the café’s outdoor seating areas and whose varied design references the site’s former use as a royal herb garden.

At the heart of the collection lies the two-storey hall, which connects the exhibition spaces on the ground floor with those in the basement, whilst also linking the forecourt visually and conceptually with the Secret Garden. In the basement, the additional exhibition spaces, varying in size and atmosphere, are arranged around the hall. This allows for the creation of changing sequences of spaces, offering the user flexible configuration options for the exhibition areas and enabling visitors to experience art in ever-changing ways. Structural fixtures, including the integration of storage and display cabinets, enable the implementation of the curatorial concept of a ‘showcase storage area’. Carefully planned sightlines encourage the intended interaction among visitors. They offer views through and out into the surrounding urban space, simplify orientation and enhance the quality of the visitor experience within the collection area. Views into the collection rooms are also ensured from the separately located service entrance. They underpin the idea of creating, with the Kleistpark image laboratory, a kind of working space that brings together studios for the arts and creative industries on the upper floors with exhibition and event operations, as well as the café, all under one roof.

To protect the light-sensitive artworks on paper, the large, column-free exhibition halls are located on the ground floor and, for the most part, in the basement. The concrete structure required for this is reflected in the façade design of the collection areas. A solid exposed concrete plinth with just a few large openings symbolises the importance of protection, durability and value. In contrast, the components above are constructed using a lightweight timber frame. Following the logic of the structure, the thermal envelope is attached to the floor slabs as a plastered, lightweight timber frame construction comprising curtain wall elements. The design of the façade is defined by a steel framework, which, filled with overlapping etched glass panes, lends the building a delicate appearance.

The choice of materials and the strict façade grid are reminiscent of the Palm House, which served as an attraction in the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were redesigned at the beginning of the 20th century to become what is now Kleistpark.
In addition to the resource-efficient choice of materials for the hybrid timber structure, the sustainability concept is characterised by the minimisation of energy requirements through passive measures such as high-quality facades, natural ventilation and thermally activated storage masses. The self-regulating and robust indoor climate is further ensured by environmental heat thanks to geothermal energy and solar power generation. Fossil fuels are avoided thanks to a bespoke conservation concept.