Porsche Museum

Porsche museum Porscheplatz 1 Stuttgart - Zuffenhausen ( Germany ) architect Delugan Meissl associated architects bild 2009

The new Porsche-Museum will be opened in 2008 in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. The plan of the building was created by the Viennese architects Delugan Meissl. The bureau hg merz stipulated the contents of the conception, supervised the competition and designs the permanent exhibition.

The exhibition is to present the wide variety of vehicles of the Porsche AG and its business philosophy. At the same time it is highly flexible and practises the idea of the »rolling museum« which allows the use of the vehicles in real street activity. The exhibition is not only consecrated to the history of the Porsche AG and its products but also displays through a variety of smaller exhibits the features that make up Porsche.

Brilliant ideas, fascinating technology and legendary vehicles deserve to be presented in a fitting environment. The architecture of the Porsche Museum provides just the right context for bringing together the three strands of Porsche’s past, present and future. One thing is for certain: the building designed by Delugan Meissl is a bold statement. Supported on just three V-shaped columns, the museum’s dominant main structure seems to float above the ground like a monolith.

At its widest, the opening between the monolith’s underside and ground level is ten metres high, reinforcing the sense of spaciousness in the area in front of it. It houses the exhibition area proper, the “Christophorus” restaurant and the event zone with roof terrace. Crouched beneath the monolith is the base building, which welcomes visitors to the Porsche Museum with an inviting gesture. It accommodates the lobby, museum workshop, archive, Bistro, Coffee Bar, museum shop, cloakroom and pay desks. The way the base building’s roof shape rises away from the entrance creates space for a second storey, in which the archive’s rea - ding room can be seen.

Both structures are linked by a partially glazed, dynamically angled stairway and an elevator. Visitors access the exhibition space measuring some 5,600 square metres in the upper part of the building via an escalator. They now have the choice of starting their tour with a chronology of the company’s history prior to 1948, or proceeding directly to the main sec - tion of the exhibition by following the product chronicle post-1948.

From every angle, the shapes of the monolith and base building look different thanks to their polygonal, avant garde forms and the variation in the structures and windows. The glazed main façade of the 23 metre high museum adorned with the Porsche logo faces north, greeting those heading into the city centre by car. The architect has succeeded in creating an eye-catching complex that nevertheless blends well into its overall setting.

“The new Porsche Museum creates a space that gives architectural expression to the com - pany’s confident outlook and discerning standards, while also capturing Porsche’s dynamism. Knowledge, credibility and determination are as fundamental to the philosophy as courage, excitement, power and independence. Every idea is treated as an opportunity actively to tackle fresh challenges and probe the limits, yet still remain true to yourself. This museum endeavours to reflect all that,” declares architect Delugan Meissl in his dedication.

The Viennese firm of architects was selected from a field of 170 bidders to design the Porsche Museum in early 2005.