PROFILE: BEN VAN BERKEL


The curved Mercedes- Benz Museum in Stuttgart is located on an artifi cial hill


“Like a good book, you should want to return to a great building”


always been fascinated by the combination of art and commerce.


Which leisure building by another architect do you most admire and why? An architect who inspired me in the early days was Clorinda Testa. He did the Banco de Londres y América del Sur in Buenos Aires. When you step into that bank, you feel like you’ve stepped into a museum. That project really inspired me.


What sets your practice apart from its rivals? We are very collaborative and open. We liken architecture to art, and we want to make buildings that people will remember and want to come back to. Like a good book or a good movie, you should want to return to a great building because there’s more to discover. We believe in architecture where many different meanings can be applied. In architecture, we need to add something


so it becomes a bit more coherent, a bit more surprising and innovative. That’s why I’m always searching for new ways to approach architecture and its typologies.


Why is leisure architecture important? This is where we have the thrill of going out; of stepping into another world. These places are a mirror to the world we live in, and it’s important that they are there. We sometimes forget to think about the social implications of what architecture can do. We should bring that much more strongly into the discussion of the role of architecture. It’s also about people coming together, shar-


ing knowledge and enjoying public moments. That’s the beauty of leisure buildings. ●


46 CLADGLOBAL.COM


Mercedes-Benz Museum Stuttgart, Germany 2006


UNStudio weaved a sense of movement into the Mercedes-Benz Museum to illustrate the story of the automobile and the freedom that came with its invention. Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, inspired by the shape of a clover leaf, constructed an exhibition space in the form of an open, twisting, sculptural spiral. Oblique and angled surfaces reference motion while directing the visitors’ route. The openness of the space was paramount to the visitor’s ability to view the vehicle exhibits


from any perspective. The duo drew on the column-free rooms of Mies van der Rohe’s National Gallery in Berlin and the ramp-style spiralling gallery of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim to create the unobstructed spaces. The architects were concerned that


the “interest in the architecture of museums almost surpasses the inter- est in the works that are inside them” and, like all of UNStudio’s work, the museum holds their insights and phi- losophies at the centre of its design. “The success of a museum depends on the inventiveness and adequacy of its internal arrangement of spaces; it’s not an iconic face that makes a museum great,” said Bos and Van Berkel.


CLADmag 2015 ISSUE 1


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