Art and culture quarter in Chemnitz

The exhibition presents the design projects of 12 students of the TU Dresden at the Professorship for Design and Construction II under the direction of Prof. Michael Vaerst and Dipl.-Ing. Fabian Zens. The subject matter was the design of an extension for the Chemnitz art collections in the heart of the Chemnitz art and culture quarter, which is also to be developed, and which connects the area behind the so-called »party fold« with the university library and the Brühl. 

Initial urban development situation (extract)
The quarter to be planned has an overall very heterogeneous structure with the art collections adjoining to the north on Theaterplatz, formerly the König-Albert-Museum, the south-east facing residential buildings along the Strasse der Nations and the urban ensemble of the town hall and »party fold« adjoining to the south. The City Planning Office of Chemnitz has been striving for a restructuring of the interior between the »Party Fold« and the König-Albert-Museum for several years. The public, cultural and gastronomic facilities should have a defining influence on the new quarter, which is why the current plans are best described under the title "Chemnitz Art and Culture Quarter". With the appointment of the city of Chemnitz as the cultural capital of 2025 last year, the project received additional impetus as part of the 2030 cultural strategy. The medium-term goal would be to use ecologically thought-out urban planning to degenerate this valuable inner-city area - due to the war and the GDR era - into a wasteland - with a high artistic, cultural, but also consumer and culinary offer around the two centers of art collections and the Chemnitz theater for To make Chemnitz: inside and tourist: inside again attractive and to radiate artistically, architecturally and in terms of urban planning far beyond the city.

Building planning starting situation (excerpt)
The Chemnitz art collections are among the largest and most important municipal art collections in Germany. As a member of the Conference of National Cultural Assets, you have the status of being of national importance. The art collections arose from various civic associations, such as the Kunstverein Kunsthütte zu Chemnitz, founded in 1860. In 1909 they were brought together under the roof of the King Albert Museum and from 1920 onwards were run as the municipal museum. Today, the Chemnitz art collections comprise a complex of various museums and institutions: the art collections on Theaterplatz with the Carlfriedrich Claus archive, the Gunzenhauser museum, the Schloßbergmuseum with Rabenstein Castle and the Henry van de Velde Museum in the Villa Esche. For several years now, the art collections have been planning to acquire additional space near the King Albert Museum. On the one hand, exhibition space is to be gained that is spatially and technically suitable for the presentation of contemporary art (e.g. video and installation art). Independent of the art collections, other art institutions or new collections could also be included here. On the other hand, the above also derives from the urgent need for further depots and storage areas for warehouse stocks, which take up a not inconsiderable part of the building volume to be planned.

Concept (excerpt)
In connection with the creation of a new urban quarter, an extension building also serves as an architectural landmark for the Chemnitz art collections as an initial starting point. The planned extension is therefore to be thought of as a multifunctional, open art center. Functionally, the special exhibition rooms of the Chemnitz Art Collections, which have to meet contemporary requirements in terms of equipment, air conditioning and lighting, are at the center of the building, but are thematically supplemented by the exhibition areas for other users. The program here may range from areas for an exhibition on the history of the city of Chemnitz to a planned exhibition area as an annex to the Schloßberg Museum, to freely playable exhibition rooms. In the immediate vicinity of the Chemnitz Opera, the university and the Chemnitz train station, the planned extension of the art collections as part of the larger cultural quarter would contribute to the upgrading and revitalization of the quarter and increase the overall attractiveness of the city center of Chemnitz including the Strasse der Kulturen.

Exhibition
As part of this project, 12 works will be shown in an exhibition in the rooms of the Chemnitz Art Collection at Theaterplatz in the period from 09.10. - 31.10.21 can be seen with plans and models.

TU Dresden - Faculty of Architecture
Professorship for Design and Construction II
Prof. Michael Vaerst
WMA Dipl.-Ing. Fabian Zens