A first look at David Chipperfield Architects’ renovation of the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe-designed Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin has been unveiled. The institution has been closed since 2015.
The images were released by the gallery following the dismantling of scaffolding for the five-year project – they show the museum’s restored main hall and exhibition spaces. The renovation is now in its final phase.
Dating to 1968, the museum was Mies van der Rohe’s only work in Germany after World War II. The restoration involved the ‘structural completion of the upper exhibition hall with 1,600 square meters of new glass installed, a new coating applied to 15,000 square meters and 500 weld seams repaired on the steel structure’.
‘The refurbishment does not represent a new interpretation, but rather a respectful repair of this landmark of the International Style,’ the architects said.
The renovation is expected to be completed in April, with a show of works by Alexander Calder opening in August 2021.
