Interior and graphic design, Neues Museum

The result of an international competition by invitation won in 2003, the project for the design of Berlin’s Neues Museum rebuilt by David Chipperfield (1994-2009) consisted in a complete arrangement of showcases, pedestals, information systems and protection devices for exhibits in the Museum’s Egyptian, protohistory and prehistory collections, which differ in shape and scale. The measurements of the showcases adopt an integrated, “tailored” logic to meet in the best possible way the needs of the objects displayed and the morphology of the rooms. That logic is also applied to “standardized” series production, whilst also considering the definition of detail relating to management, maintenance, future arrangements and possible replacements. The lighting, conditioning and graphics are integrated. Different special pieces are provided for the display of particularly relevant exhibits: the showcase protecting the Nefertiti, 4 metres high, the showcases in the sarcophagus room, the thin showcases for the Mumienmasken, etc. The materials echo those of the architecture, but the layout remains independent. The natural finishes establish a continuity of the building’s history.