MERCEDES-BENZ MUSEUM

UN STUDIO

RYAN SCHWARTZ

INDEX

FORM ............................................................................ 2
BODY ..............................................................................8
TECHNIQUE ................................................................11
SPACE ..........................................................................14
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FORM


In the heart of Stuttgart, Germany stands a beacon of
exemplary automotive engineering, proudly housed in an equally
impressive museum. The Mercedes-Benz Museum by UN Studio
is unique in that it showcases a static collection of specific vehicles
- rather than an accumulation of various works of art, pieces
of cultural or historical significance, scientific curiosities or other
exhibits typical of museums.

The building itself embodies and reflects many characteristics
of the legendary automobiles that it holds, and becomes itself a
monument to fluidity and mobility.

This flowing design was inspired by the trefoil, which
consists of three loops continuously returning into themselves. The
celebrated Mercedes-Benz symbol bears a strong resemblance to
the original design inspiration, though UN Studio accounts this to
pure coincidence.

This was undoubtedly not a mistake however, as the design
competition aimed to create a building iconic of the luxury car
brand a fact that UN Studio took full advantage of.

Form in Motion

This simple design pattern evolved from line, to surface,
to a final complex volume.

Major axes and dimensions were fixed early, and all
subsequent geometry was parametrically constructed.


Architects Ben van Berkel and
Caroline Bos attempted to create a twist
on the museum typology by harnessing
the incredibly specific programmatic
individuality of this building.

As a museum centred on
automobility, they focused much of their
attention on the ambulatory circulation
system within the building which began to
dictate the overall form.

Museums of late pushed their
respective boundaries in regards to form,
but this project became an sum of the
best features used in the past.

Frank Lloyd Wrights Guggenheim
Museum in New York was pioneering in
its use of a prescribed spiral circulation
system. UN Studio inverted and doubled
this system into intertwining helices with
two main narrative scripts.

The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin by
Mies van der Rohe provided unobstructed
routes, allowing patrons to choose their
own paths. The double helices in this case
were meshed in such a way as to allow
various combinations of specified routes,
adapting the form to keep this function.

UN STUDIO
1988

Vehicle Sales

Varying Trajectories
Mercedes-Benz
1926
Benz
1886

Daimler
1901

UN Studio Projects

2012

1886
WWI

WWII

The union of UN Studio with Mercedes-Benz

was well timed, given the climaxing success
of both companies.
1959

1968

1977

2006

In a similar fashion to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, this circulatory space becomes celebrated. Unlike Paris which segregates these
circulation spaces from the gallery however, the two become so enmeshed that it becomes difficult to distinguish one from the other.

Ambulation

Throughout the nine levels of exhibits there are no closed rooms
and no straight walls. This encourages the smooth, flowing continuity of
overlapping exhibits which are based on along a narrative timeline (thereby
having no abrupt starts and stops) - all coexisting simultaneously along a
blurred continuum.

Plan

Combining these factors with the reversal of ambulation through
the space (where patrons enter the building, immediately ride an elevator
to the top floor, and begin their descent) a distinct typological form
was created, applauded, and subsequently copied by others shortly
thereafter.

Start

Axonometric

The unending loops of a trefoil translate directly into the spatial
arrangement of displays within the museum.

Finish

Narrowing Focus
EXHIBIT

EXHIBIT

EXHIBIT

EXHIBIT

4 HOURS

Over 100 Years of History in 4-6 Hours of Exploration

Narrated Choice

This continuity was masterfully
accentuated by the deliberate removal of
focal points that distract the viewers eye
away from the exhibits. These include
angular corners where walls meet the
floor, ceiling, other walls, or the intense
use of colour.

Through folding, curving, and the
removal of colour, the architects were
able to allow the cars on display to
consume the entire focus and attention of
the viewer, while the visual distractions of
the formal structure begin to fade quietly
into the background.

The enmeshed double helices
used as both display and circulatory
space allow for a directional narrative, but
also allow patrons to have choice in their
route of exploration.

Mirrored Projection
Though never explicitly stated by UN Studio architects, the materiality
and aesthetics of the museum bear striking resemblance to the formal
qualities of the modern automobile, especially those of MercedesBenz. The projection of car onto building allows the two to mirror one
another, strengthening their symbolic relationship.

Iconic
.
360 Ribbons of Glass

Subtle Curves

Hard Lines

Colour Scheme

Grill Elements

Glowing Lights

BODY

Plane & Pace

Periodic Choice

Elevation

Pace

Many Cars, Many Angles

The lack of intense colour
and visual way-finding landmarks in
combination with a melding of levels
and continual rotation easily plays
tricks visitors. Sense of direction and
elevation are soon thwarted by means
of the rhythmic circulatory paths.

UN Studio used the ramping
helices as a subtle form of influence
on the body. The dynamic between
horizontal and gently descending floor
planes acts as a subconscious clue to
visitors exploring the museum.

The oblique floor planes were
meant to stimulate the mobility of
people walking and are used as
transition areas between exhibits,
whereas exhibits are housed on more
static traditional surfaces, causing
visitors to slow their pace.

This is further augmented by
strategic use of the curving and folding
walls and the periodic choice of route
that must be made.

In a sense, this allows the user
to focus more intensely on the exhibits,
while also allowing people to view the
various cars from a variety of angles
and heights as they pass by (not only
horizontally but vertically), making the
cars seem less static..

Conditioned Sensory Experience

As a building dedicated to a
vehicular time-line, one can begin to
appreciate the subtle approach taken
to ensure its adherence to this peculiar
program.
As
previously
examined,
museum typologies often consist of
a singular open plan where users
can bounce in seemingly random
fashion from exhibit to exhibit, or a
highly structured narrative of discrete
elements to be viewed only one at a
time.

These approaches, although
appropriate in some instances, were
not suitable for this program.

UN Studio was able to
cleverly condition the interaction and
experience provided by the museum
to the visitors, in a fashion that mimics
the rhythmic ebb and flow of time.
Overlapping booms and busts are
provided in a cyclical experience
as one exhibit beings to fade from
view, another is beginning to loom just
ahead.

Role Reversal

The car is a machine dedicated to motion. Similarly, the Mercedes-Benz Museum is a
machine dedicated to motion. It was designed specifically to move hundreds of thousands of
people each year around its exhibits - cars on display that were built to move, but are forced to
sit still in their new environment. It is the museum itself that seems to shift instead, smearing its
internal boundaries and blending its formal elements.

This sense of blurred distortion holds strong ties to the modern car, especially the renowned
speed of Mercedes-Benz engineering.

In this case however, instead of cars speeding past, the building races all around you as
do hundreds of other visitors, while the cars themselves sit in perfect clarity.

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TECHNIQUE

11

Reproducibility

VALUE

The creation of copies inherently
reduces the value of the original, thereby
elevating the cost or perceived value of
singular works of art, rare cars, first edition
books, etc. By creating a unique and nonreproducible building, the significance of the
building is elevated. Visitors who wish to
experience the museum and its exhibits must
travel to the museum itself as that particular
experience cannot be found anywhere else
in the world. Similar buildings may exist, yet
none that begin to resemble a copy of the
original.

This is in part due to the use of
computer aided design by UN Studio in
the museums creation. Though curvilinear
forms have been seen in architecture
for centuries, the complex mathematical
geometries existing in multiple dimensions as
seen in the Mercedes-Benz Museum require
computer design aid for both modelling and
engineering purposes.
Computer aided
design (CAD) has revolutionized building
technology and modes of construction.

The use of computers in the modelling
and drawing of this building allowed for
complete freedom in form. The multitude
of continuous curves, slopes and oblique
lines of the building resulted in a structure
that was incredibly complex to build. Each
concrete form was custom made and there
were thousands of pieces of angled glass
for the windows that needed to fit exactly in
place. Without the use of computers, this
building would have been nearly impossible
to build.
Without the original schematic
plans, the building literally could be not be
reproduced.

COPIES

Somewhat ironically however, the automobile (even with its complex
geometry) was has been specifically designed for mass production. As
the two begin to slowly converge, perhaps this will have the same effect on
buildings of the future. The advent of CAD has also allowed for the easy
reproduction and distribution of construction drawings, allowing indefinite
reproductions and copies to be made quite readily, thereby devaluing iconic
architecture.

Complexity via CAD

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Technical Safety

The complex geometrical form of the
museum lends itself not only to an effective
exhibit layout and experience, but also some
highly advanced public safety features. As
modern buildings, especially those open to
the public, are subjected to more rigorous
safety codes, these standards become
increasingly informative to the buildings
composition. This is especially true in the
case of fires a long standing nemesis of
the built environment.

The central atrium which connects
to each floor via open air circulation allows
for a complex ventilation system to remove
smoke in the case of fire. Aside from
common sprinkler systems, this building has
the ability to generate a strong wind current
within the atrium by means of several large
fans in the roof which form a vortex of
swirling air. This miniature tornado sucks
the toxic air from all circulation and exhibit
spaces into the uninhabited space of the
atrium, while simultaneously allowing fresh air
to permeate into the public spaces through
the opening of multiple vents. Visitors are
then able to see and make their way out
safely out of the building. This autonomous
behaviour nearly resembles organismal
self-preservation characteristics, detecting
problems and mitigating them.

The creation of an iconic building for the sole purpose of displaying objects
immediately increases the perceived value of the objects being displayed, as if they
were on a pedestal. This transformation of the objects aligns with Mercedes-Benzs
company objectives, those of high value luxury cars. By constructing a pedestal on
the scale of a multistory museum to display its own goods, Mercedes-Benz is forming
an elevated image of their own product to all who enter the museum.

Display Value

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SPACE

14

Space Creation
By designing the Mercedes-Benz Museum as a series of
continuous, interlocked set of ramps, UN Studio effectively
fashioned a giant knot of concrete. This knot essentially
creates spaces by developing the areas under, over and
around the unadorned concrete structure. Through a
continuous folding and striation of a single homogenous
element, numerous different spaces are delineated. By
focusing on the pedestrian pathway and its form, the
interstitial spaces inhabited by exhibits materialize.

Spatial Demarcation
These interstitial spaces again pose some
comparison to that of the automobile. An
infrastructural framework is first built,
establishing and demarcating a particular
inhabitable space, clearly defining an inside
and outside. This space can then be
expropriated and inhabited by the users.

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Variable Continuum Display

1926

2012

The space created by and within the form of this building is one of neutrality. UN Studio essentially created a concrete and glass shell
to be inhabited by exhibits and visitors. The vast, open spaces of the museum are all interconnected and act as a larger, singular space
that encompasses the entire assemblage of exhibits. The individual exhibits may be unique, but the encompassing nature of the space acts
to make each level and display era work as a part within a larger whole.

This ambiguity also allows the curators of the museum to swap exhibits over time as necessary, as the building lends itself to
continuous display alteration. As new features are created and old ones grow stagnant, exhibits and cars can be replaced and the museum
building will still act as a perfect neutral backdrop to showcase the vehicles. In this sense, the museum acts as a static yet adaptable space
through which time glides, highlighting whatever era the curator currently desires.

The location of this museum as a nodal home for
Mercedes-Benz in Germany acts as an anchor in space.
Though Mercedes-Benz vehicles can and literally do exist
everywhere on the planet, their country of origination serves
as a focal point through which the cars are born, and also
where the pre-eminent return to be showcased. The museum
draws upon the achievements of the company and its global
experience, aggregating into a common home, creating a
space nearly to that of worship.

The end result of UN Studios efforts has resulted in a
dominant architectural node that acts centrally in a complex,
hierarchical multi-national network. Working as both a local
and global tourist attraction - a literal cultural shrine for the
German-born automobile - the Mercedes-Benz Museum in
Stuttgart is that of a modern museum typology deeply rooted
in architectural theory and the proud home of Mercedes-Benzs
exemplary history.

Nodal Anchor

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REFERENCES
Ben Van Berkel and Caroline Bos, Buy Me a Mercedes Benz, (Barcelona: Actar, 2006)
Ben Van Berkel and Caroline Bos, UN Studio Design Models: Architecture Urbanism Infrastructure, (London: Thames & Hudson, 2006)
Falk Jaeger, UN Studio, (Calbe: Jovis Verlag GmbH, 2009)
Mercedes-Benz Museum, ArchDaily, Accessed December 1, 2012, http://www.archdaily.com/72802/mercedes-benz-museum-un-
studio-photos-by-michael-schnell/
Mercedes-Benz Museum, UN Studio, Accessed December 1, 2012, http://www.unstudio.com/projects/mercedes-benz-museum
Tornado World Record at Mercedes-Benz Museum Stuttgart, YouTube, accessed December 1, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=79XVdJRKhE0

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