10/01/2017

Work begins on the new Bauhaus Dessau museum, a project by alumnus José Zabala

The Barcelona-based studio González Hinz Zabala, made up of Roberto González, Anne Katharina Hinz and José Zabala, alumni of the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, has ultimately been awarded the project for the Bauhaus Museum Dessau. The decision was made following contract negotiations with the joint winners of the tender, as announced in September 2015: Young & Ayata of New York, USA and González Hinz Zabala of Barcelona, Spain.

Photography: 90 years of Bauhaus Dessau, the first piece of the Bauhaus Museum Dessau ©Thomas Ruttke

The “Black Box” proposal designed by González Hinz Zabala consists of a rectangular piece enveloped by an outer structural framework, in which the opacity of the upper part of the building contrasts with the transparency of the ground floor. The cultural complex, designed to house and display the collection of work created by the German school of art and design, has a total floor space of 3,500 m², 2,100 of which is exhibition space.

The cornerstone laying ceremony took place on 4 December and was attended by Reiner Haseloff, Minister-President of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt; Sigrid Bias-Engels, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media; and Peter Kuras, Mayor of Dessau-Roßlau. The new museum is due to open in 2019 and will coincide with the centenary celebrations for the foundation of the Bauhaus.