The building was erected next to the Schiller National Museum, and it houses exhibits from this museum dating back to the 20th century as a permanent exhibition.
The Chipperfield building reminds of the Parthenon - or the idea of a peripter temple in general, but the architect conveys this type in modern formal language: the concrete supports surrounding the building are much slender than antique marble columns, and much more geometric. The walls of the cella are covered with wood. Also, various types of stone were used in the construction.
It looks especially light and graceful compared to the heavy volume of the Schiller Museum itself, built in 1903 in the neo-baroque style.
The implicit opposition of external and internal space (taking into account the open and glazed terraces overlooking the Neckar valley), artificial (muted) and natural lighting, the laconic volume of the building and the soft slope of the hill on which it stands is a constant theme of the project.
It should be noted that David Chipperfield took only fourth place in the architectural competition held by the German Schiller Society in 2001. At that time, not a single first place was awarded, but neither Wilford Schupp and Heinle, Vischer & Partners, who shared the second prize, nor Schuster Architectin, who were third, could not meet the proposed budget of 5.7 million euros. … In addition, the jury liked the British architect's version for its functionality, strict aesthetics and creative approach to lighting the exhibition spaces.
The opening of the museum is timed to coincide with the bicentennial of the death of Friedrich Schiller.
