BERLIN NEUE NATIONALGALERIE. A CONTEMPORARY VIEW OF THE MODERN TEMPLE

Abstract

Mies van der Rohe´s approach to architecture through a poetic structural skeleton, abstractly refined to become a universal prototype of the essence of form and spiritualization of space, can be best seen at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. This unique modern temple recently under refurbishment by the subtle pencil of David Chipperfield [1] will soon have to be prepared to receive the extra additional space designed by the winner competition office leaded by Herzog & De Meuron [2].
 Despite the rebirth of the building´s prestige there is still a gap of knowledge on the construction philosophy pursued by Mies van der Rohe, who conceived the Galeria Project as a phenomenological duality of lightness and heaviness in within a constant game of oppositions, exquisitely intended to intensify human emotions. Far beyond a mere construction, the magnificent museum became a place where the Silesia stone terrace seemed to detain the historical time meanwhile the biotite grey steel structure was encapsulating a flexible space embracing the dynamic elapse of life.
 The investigation undertaken by this author on the building´s original working drawings at the MvdR Archive in New York revealed unknown details which are helping nowadays to achieve a deeper understanding on the design and construction process of the iconic miesian museum. The underground ventilation channels running beneath the monolithic concrete plinth refreshing the interior volume with perfumed air from the garden´s lindens, altogether with the heroic columns and the freestanding glass membranes of the façades, resume today´s dilemma of the global high-tech city within the natural realm.