Description

The European Hansemuseum (EHM) was built by a private foundation from the north German city of Lübeck, which, among other things, is committed to preserving Lübeck’s townscape. The EHM occupies an attractive site opposite the harbour, on the western slope of the castle hill on the northern edge of the old town and also includes the remains of the former Dominican friary. On this hill, Henry the Lion built his castle. The museum’s primary façade is a two-story brick frontage that flanks the street, presenting a long linear hard edge broken only by a couple of slight kinks. Visual variety is created by a strategically placed tall slot, into which the central open stair recedes connecting the different levels in a single cascading series of steps, as well as the long ribbon window of the foyer on the upper floor and the glass front of the event space at the narrow north end. A few small openings, covered by dark bronze-clad doors, are cut into the façade and provide access to plant rooms and storage. The central stairs pass through the building linking the new museum to the historical buildings of the castle friary behind and above it.

The clinker brick has been custom made. Partially sandy, glazed and dip-coated, it has an irregular, polychromatic appearance that is further heightened by the white mortar joints. The potential monotony of such a long wall is alleviated through deliberate deviations from the norm: bricks project forward of the wall, or are recessed, lie crooked or on end; there are impromptu stretches of soldier courses or similar motifs as well as recesses that evoke the scaffolding holes of medieval brick walls. The layer of clinker wraps around the insulation-clad concrete wall core and continues on under the ceiling of the of the stair slot. At the corner, stands a tall building topped with a tall pitched gable that picks up the forms of the Gothic architecture of the castle friary. An ornamental lattice-like panel of projecting bricks with a quatrefoil pattern further accentuates the frontage.

The labyrinthine interior of the new building comprises a series of scenographic presentations, which in subdued lighting chronologically depict key events of the history of the Hanseatic League along with five main stages: Novgorod, Lübeck, Bruges, London and Bergen. The subdued interiors are part of the atmospheric scenography: the experience is one of darkness and narrowness and at night the edges of the rooms blend into the background. These scenes are preceded or followed by brightly lit spaces. The tight, winding interiors have more to do with the space limitations of the rooms embedded in the hillside. The path leading to the exhibition is impressive, taking one down into the depths via a glass elevator and over footbridges that pass between medieval walls.

A key spatial moment is the stair landing on the first floor, which opens on both sides. One arrives here from the left on exiting the museum interior and enters to the right into the large foyer with the cash desk, café and museum shop, with a view overlooking the harbour beyond through the foyer’s full-height glazing. The furniture, display cases, counters and shelves are predominantly solid and rectilinear. The heavy glass doors have dark bronze frames.

The European Hansemuseum also encompasses the restored historical buildings of the castle friary. All that remains of the Dominican Church of St Maria-Magdalena, which was demolished in 1818, is the tall wall of the northern side aisle. The architects fitted it with a flush-mounted dark bronze disc to protect the paintings in the side chapel, which partly conceals the Gothic architecture. The marking of the perimeter of the demolished monastery church of St Maria-Magdalena follows the principle of the overall concept. The west end is delimited by monumental white concrete blocks and the new “church floor” (open-air) also shines white. Black strips laid in the bright concrete screed denote the pattern of ribs, portals, transverse and diaphragm arches.

A further key outdoor space is the roof terrace on the flat roof of the new museum building which offers a wonderful view over the harbour area.

Originally published in Bauwelt 31.2015, pp. 14-21, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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