ocation: Germany, Frankfurt

Address: Schaumainkai 43, 60596, Frankfurt, Germany

Building style: Postmodernism

Website: www.dam-online.de

The first architectural museum in Europe is the German Museum of Architecture, or Deutsches Architekturmuseum. The idea to establish such a museum appeared in Frankfurt a century ago, in the early 1920s, when Ernst May was the head of the town planning committee of the city. This plan was returned to in the late 1970s, along with the construction of the Museum Embankment, where the city’s cultural institutions were located. The historian of art and architecture, Heinrich Klotz, was invited as a consultant.

On June 1, 1984, the Deutsches Architekturmuseum opened with The Revision of the Modern, an exhibition reflecting on postmodernism. The first few years of the museum’s existence were accompanied by a postmodern debate sparked by Heinrich Klotz, who was appointed director. The museum is conceived as a place where educational events take place and urban policy is developed.

The Deutsches Architekturmuseum is housed in a 1912 building. In 1979-1984, the famous German architect Oswald Matthias Ungers reconstructed it. He turned the early 20th century mansion into a conceptual building, a “house within a house.” Only the outer walls of the building remained intact. As the architect said, he wanted to create “a clean space bordering on the very essence of architecture.”

The concept of the project came up with Heinrich Klotz. He believed that it was based on the main principle of postmodern architecture – the connection of the facade of the building and its interior into a complex that tells a story. In addition, the Deutsches Architekturmuseum is one of the first examples of the revitalization of a dilapidated historic building.