Rolandseck, Germany
The design of the Arp Museum represents the seamless integration of the building’s spectacular site with the museum’s mission to showcase the work of the Dadaist master Hans Arp and his circle. One of the unique features of the region in which the museum is located is the series of medieval castles that line a 35-mile stretch of the river Rhine. The Arp Museum, sited on a wooded escarpment overlooking the Rhine, responds and echoes the forms of these captivating relics.
The structure’s entry sequence does not begin in the museum proper, but rather at the base of the bank-side mountain, in the old village railway station, used since the 1960s as an exhibition space. The lowest level of the station functions as the main entrance to the new museum building, which is reached only gradually by a series of carefully modulated tunnels and shafts that burrow into and up through the mountain to the new building.
The first of these subterranean sequences begins from this lobby, which leads to a 40-meter-long tunnel—illuminated by two continuous bands of light—that extends below ground under the railway tracks to an exhibition pavilion that stands independent of the main museum building. The modest pavilion features polished concrete floors and a discreet slotted skylight; aside from providing ancillary temporary exhibition space, the pavilion also establishes a sense of expectation and uncertainty that is further reinforced by the next sequence, which materializes as another subterranean tunnel, this time 35 meters long and terminating at the bottom of a dramatic 40-meter-high shaft with access to two glass-enclosed elevators. These elevators ascend through the shaft to a conical tower structure above grade. Here the translucent tower walls illuminate the shaft and elevators, with added illumination and hints of views provided by transparent glass slots in the tower walls. At the tower’s apex the elevators open onto a 16-meter-long, glass-enclosed bridge which represents the final stage of the sequential promenade into the museum.
The ground level comprises two large galleries with access to two terraces, as well as a smaller enclosed gallery. The spaces on the upper floor occupy a seemingly free-floating platform supported by columns so that they overlook the ground floor galleries at the east and west edges. The two main upper-level galleries are illuminated from above by a glazed ceiling, with a series of adjustable aluminum louvers providing either complete daylight or daylight modulated with artificial light. A similar, though immobile, louver system occupies the double-height glazed facade facing the Rhine, opening the museum to breathtaking views of the surrounding valley.
博物馆位于俯瞰莱茵河的壮丽海角上，展示了一位达达主义大师的非凡天才。
该博物馆明确地设计用于展示达达主义大师汉斯·阿尔普及其圈子的作品，位于一个拥有独特建筑遗产的地区，该地区以一系列中世纪城堡的形式排列在莱茵河 35 英里的河段上。这座建筑坐落在俯瞰河流的树木繁茂的悬崖上，响应并呼应了这些迷人遗迹的形式。
该结构的入口序列并非从博物馆本身开始，而是从旧村火车站的河岸山脚下开始，该火车站自 1960 年代以来一直用作展览空间。从这里开始，游客们逐渐穿过一系列精心调制的隧道和竖井，这些隧道和竖井从山上钻进并向上到达新建筑。这个序列在一个 35 米长的地下隧道中达到高潮，该隧道终止于一个引人注目的 40 米高竖井的底部，位于两个玻璃封闭电梯的入口处。这些电梯上升到高于地面的锥形塔结构，在那里它们连接到一座 16 米长的玻璃封闭桥，该桥代表进入博物馆的长廊的最后阶段。
两个主要的上层画廊从上方被令人叹为观止的自然光照亮，玻璃天花板装有一系列可调节的铝制百叶窗，可提供完全的日光或用人造光调制的日光。一个类似但固定的百叶窗系统占据了面向莱茵河的双高玻璃幕墙，打开博物馆可以欣赏到周围山谷的壮丽景色。
