SEFAR LIGHTFRAME Illuminated Modular Fabric Ceiling System at the LWL-Museum of Art and Culture, Münster. By: Licht Kunst Licht AG After a perennial construction period, the LWL Museum of Art and Culture in Münster re-opened in September 2014. Designed by Staab Architekten, the newly-constructed building is connected to the existing building from 1908, allowing the museum to display its collection in 51 exhibition spaces. The spaces are flanked by a library, an auditorium, access and relaxation zones, a bookshop, and a restaurant Light integrated into architecture Interlinked with Münster‘s city center through a sequence of forecourts, traversed by a publically accessible path and organized in an 'architecture of courtyards,' the re-opened museum offers optimum conditions for serving as a public cultural venue embedded in an urban context. New visions of an interconnection between the museum and its neighborhood open up from within, also by virtue of six-meter-high windows. Regardless of the perspective – from inside or outside – openness and clarity undeniably prevail in this building. The lighting concept was to underline these qualities. Consequently, the lighting designers opted for a stringent integration of all light sources into the architecture. It is not the luminaires that are at the design focus, but the effect that they create. Enter SEFAR LIGHTFRAME The museum visitor is welcomed by a three-story foyer that is spanned by a glazed skylight and a SEFAR LIGHTFRAME illuminated modular fabric ceiling below. The fabric used in the SEFAR LIGHTFRAME ceiling is SEFAR Architecture’s IL-80-CP, which provides 80% light transmission. In sunshine, an interesting play of light and shadow shapes the space, but also on overcast days the visual link with the exterior is palpable. In order not to encumber the ceiling surface‘s visual effect, the foyer illumination was fully integrated into wall recesses. Grouped in pairs, the projectors create direct resonant light in this tall space. Each group of luminaires can be switched and dimmed individually. Due to this option, the projectors are able to provide an appropriate illumination for both, the museum‘s operation and events at the foyer. The various light scenes can be accessed through a touch panel. Luminous ceilings ideal for exhibits In the exhibition spaces, the SEFAR LIGHTFRAME system follows the walls’ outlines, creating a calm ceiling impression and providing flexible light for the unrestricted display of exhibits. The difference between SEFAR LIGHTFRAME and the luminous ceiling concepts commonly used for museums is not only the restriction of the luminous surface to the vicinity of the perimeter walls. SEFAR LIGHTFRAME also creates a particularly homogenous illumination of the wall surfaces. This is achieved through a precise arrangement of the dimmable fluorescent lamps behind the translucent membrane. Following extensive mock-up tests, the spacing between the light strips is increased towards the wall.

Thus, excessive luminance levels at the wall top are avoided and an unusually homogenous light distribution on the vertical surface is established. SEFAR LIGHTFRAME and projectors form a versatile duet Following the groove between the SEFAR LIGHTFRAME modules and the central ceiling area is a 3-phase-track. It allows for the flexible adaptation of projectors. In their narrow beam version they accentuate selected works of art or illuminate larger areas and objects in their wide beam edition. The museum can use SEFAR LIGHTFRAME and projectors individually or jointly. This makes a wide gamut of possibilities available. It encompasses a merely uniform wall washing, a combination of ambient and accent lighting and an introverted or dramatic light atmosphere, as provided by the exclusive implementation of projectors. The dimmable control of the SEFAR LIGHTFRAME modules and each individual LED projector allows for an adaptation of the illumination to the respective visual task at hand and conservation-related requirements for the exhibit‘s protection. Artificial and natural light carefully matched At the uppermost floor, the museum houses five skylight spaces. Large, centered daylight ceilings allow the dynamics of natural light into the interior space. In order to achieve an artificial light atmosphere at the skylight spaces that is identical to the one in the remaining exhibition areas, a combination of SEFAR LIGHTFRAME and track mounted projectors is implemented. Moreover, the luminous flux emitted by the SEFAR LIGHTFRAME modules is automatically dimmed by a daylight harvest control. The data required for this purpose is provided by a daylight sensor on the museum roof. Coordinated with the actual exterior illuminance levels and the operation mode of the roller blinds, the luminous flux of the frame‘s fluorescent lamps is adjusted.

A museum is a place where the past comes to life and where this can be of benefit to the present and the future. Traditionally, it has four principal functions: preserving, collecting, researching, and communicating. To display and maintain its permanent collections and special exhibitions in an appropriate and modern way, the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History now has a new building. The museum’s exhibits range from the Middle Ages to avant-garde contemporary works, offering opportunities for new research.

Exhibitions and a comprehensive program of art and cultural education give visitors an insight into the outcome of these scientific activities and open up ever new perspectives on the history of art and culture.

With the construction of the new building at the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History, the urban-planning objective was to connect it directly to the existing Neo-Renaissance building on Domplatz thereby creating a seamless integration of city and museum.

Cosmopolitan and Cutting-Edge: The New LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur in Münster In September 2014 the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) opened the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur in Münster in a new building. Following five years of construction, the LWL-Museum is now one of North Rhine-Westphalia’s major art museums. Since its reopening, the new art museum has already received approximately 360,000 visitors. Treasures from over 1,000 years of art and cultural history come alive in spaces totalling 7,500 square metres: works of art by Heinrich Brabender, Lucas Cranach The Elder, Franz Marc, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, August Macke, Otto Piene, Gerhard Richter and Rosemarie Trockel are housed in a collection of national importance.

The Westphalian art museum has been located on Domplatz in the centre of Münster since 1908. The Staab architectural office in Berlin designed a new extension to enable a modern presentation of a collection comprising approximately 320,000 items from the Middle Ages to the present day. Thanks to the architect’s sensitive approach to the art, 51 modern exhibition spaces have been created that perfectly complement the works of art themselves. Some of the 1,300 exhibits are being displayed for the first time. Coloured walls allow well-known works of art to be displayed in a new and innovative manner, double-height spaces create new associations between eras, whilst smaller spaces alternate with larger ones. A smooth transition from the old to the new building facilitates an unbroken passage through the entire museum, for the first time.

The new building nestles next to Pferdegasse; its distinctive prow, housing a display of medieval sandstone sculptures, pointing towards the cathedral. At central locations, six metre high windows open the building to its urban surroundings, creating sight lines not only into the city but also into the museum. Via a sequence of four courtyards – the forecourt on Rothenburg, the open patio, the inner foyer, its daylight ceiling more than 14 metres high, and the forecourt on Domplatz – the new architecture creates a continuous thoroughfare from south to north, the passage transforming the ground floor into a place for public life. All the service areas are located here: the auditorium, library, museum shop and museum café.

The education programme is as open as the architecture and the presentation of the art: the new museum engages in a dialogue with people – through works set in context, stories narrated on the multi media guide, thematic and inclusive guided tours and a short guide in paperback format. The works do not remain cryptic but become accessible to all visitors – regardless of age, prior knowledge or special needs.

The LWL-Museum regularly presents large-scale thematic exhibitions. Attracting almost 81,000 visitors, the first exhibition “Bare Life. Bacon, Freud, Hockney and others. London artists working from life 1950-80” (8 November 2014 to 22 February 2015) inaugurated the new spaces for temporary exhibitions, receiving both national and international recognition.

The efforts of the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur to address a wide audience and interest them in art, was demonstrated by the exhibition “A Gruffalo? What’s a Gruffalo?” Gruffalo & Co., on display from 14 March to 9 August 2015, which was specifically conceived and constructed for children. More than 30,000 visitors saw the “Gruffalo”, 5,000 of them children under six years old.

From 13 May to 4 September 2016, the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur is presenting the exhibition "Homosexuality_ies". The exhibition features 150 years of the history, politics and culture of homosexual men and women in Germany. It examines how same-sex sexuality and non-conforming gender identities were criminalized by law, pathologised by the medical profession and socially marginalized. It highlights the dramatic reinforcement of the law during the Nazi period and its retention until final abolition in 1994. Beyond these issues of social repression, the exhibition also focuses on the emancipation movements of homo-, trans- and intersexual people, transforming society's understanding of gender identity. Last year the exhibition was shown in Schwules Museum* (Queer Museum) and Deutsches Historisches Museum (German History Museum) in Berlin and is a joint project with the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur.

Henry Moore is one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. The exhibition "Henry Moore. Catalyst for Europe" (11.11.2016 to 19.03.2017) will be examining, why Moore, who during his own lifetime was already being celebrated as the “Picasso of sculpture”, was able to dominate sculpture to such an extent that he even captured a younger generation of artists imagination. Like almost no other, he is still regarded today as the epitome of the “modern artist”. Moore addressed the relationship between humans and nature in a radical manner, choosing the human figure as his central motif. In addition to works by Moore, works by Jean Arp, Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Alberto Giacometti, together with pictures by Pablo Picasso, Joseph Scharl and others will be on display. The exhibition is being presented as a collaboration between Tate London and the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur.

The internationally oriented Skulptur Projekte have been taking place in Münster at regular ten-year intervals since 1977. Artists are invited to develop site-specific works – sculptural works as well as temporary installations or performances. The projects realized in this framework inscribe themselves in the structural, historical and social contexts of the city while at the same time pointing beyond them: themes related to the global present and reflections on the concept of sculpture are as much an integral part of the artistic explorations as questions about the relationship between public and private space in times of increasing digitalization. The fifth edition of the Skulptur Projekte will take place from 10 June to 1 October 2017. Skulptur Projekte is a cooperative project of Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) and the city of Münster. The exhibition is being organized by the LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur.

As the architectural heritage of a closed era, buildings from the 1950s are increasingly attracting the attention of monument conservation authorities. This is also the case with the Landeshaus Westfalen-Lippe in Münster; it was entered in the list of monuments in 2010. The aim of the reconstruction of the original 1950s fenestration was to restore the simple appearance of the building, which had been severely disturbed by windows and french windows made of aluminium profiles. In their search for a steel profile system that is appropriately narrow and at the same time thermally separated, the architects came across Janisol Arte 2.0.

More about the project on our website