Porsche Museum: Delugan Meissl Associated Architects, HG Merz

The recently opened Porsche-Museum in Zuffenhausen, at the entrance to the city of Stuttgart, is exceptional in three respects: for its architecture, its construction and its urban design. In its form, use of technology and dynamic elegance the design reflects the qualities of the traditional automobile brand. A 160 metre long exhibition element rests on three concrete cores, which enable the smooth structure to float with apparent ease above the level of the ground floor. Upon entering the building the visitor is drawn onto a sunken entrance plateau, effortlessly crossing the threshold between the everyday world and the white Porsche experience. The graphic design concept of Mevis & Van Deursen enables the reader of this book to share with the visitor the sense of moving through the museum. The photography of Ivan Baan guides him visually around and through the building. While the first part of the book relies on pure black and white photography the second part uses texts and plans to illuminate the technical and constructional aspects of the project. This is a book for anyone interested in the architecture of the Porsche-Museum. At the same time it is in itself an object crafted according to the same principles.