This building of the eclectic museum, built in 1889 (architect August Thiede), was one of the last wartime ruins in the Mitte area. Now it has been turned into a repository for alcohol-based exhibits, the total number of which reaches 1 million.
The preferred designation of the east wing required full protection of the interior from the sun's rays. At the same time, it was necessary to sufficiently restore the original appearance of the building, the facades of which were originally equipped with large window openings with arched ends. After the destruction at the beginning of 1945, the building lost its roof and interfloor floors, as well as a significant part of the eastern and fragments of the courtyard facades.
The architects decided not to restore the building in its "ideal" condition, but to undertake a partial reconstruction, which reminds of its appearance in the past rather than imitating it in detail. The surviving parts of the facades were restored, and the window openings were filled with bricks, practically indistinguishable from the historical material. The lost parts of the walls have been replaced with replicas of gray concrete, exactly replicating the appearance of the surviving fragments. For this, casts were taken from the existing parts, on the basis of which plastic forms were created; in these forms the missing pieces of the facade were cast. In the new parts, despite the historical identity of all the profiles and even the masonry joints, the window openings were also left blank. Inside there are spacious rooms with 6 m high ceilings.
The architects admit that they were guided by the exemplary restoration of the Munich Old Pinakothek building of the 1950s by Hans Döllgast, who closed the gaps in the facades with brickwork without plaster. But Roger Diener went further than him: in his opinion, such an "unfinished" version makes it possible to further bring the building to an "ideal" state, if the customers ever want it. His approach completely completes the restoration and does not allow changing anything in the appearance of the building: it will remain in this form forever. At the same time, despite the completeness, the old and new parts clearly differ in color and material, which, on the one hand, helps the viewer, and on the other hand, due to the finest detailing of new sections, confuses him, thereby bringing the building beyond the bounds of everyday life.
