Urban Nation Museum by GRAFT

Urban Nation Museum

The Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, in short UN museum, is the first German street art museum and will emerge in the Berlin quarter of Schöneberg.

Urban Nation Museum
Image © GRAFT

GRAFT developed the architectural concept for the conversion of a former residential building, located on the crossroads of Bülowstrasse and Zietenstrasse.

Urban Nation Museum
Image © GRAFT

By a modular changeable façade, the building itself becomes a piece of art. It will give artists from all over the world the opportunity to use the façade as a canvas, which will be changed periodically. The elements of the building façade can then be added to the collection of the museum as artworks. The interior reveals a radical and unexpected space: enfilades of rooms create height and width by spreading over two and even three floors.

Urban Nation Museum
Image © GRAFT

In this museum, the anamorphic techniques of street art enter the architectural concept and allow for the art to form a symbiosis with architecture. The street is extended into the interior of the museum. A high line connects the exhibition spaces and facilitates the simultaneous experience of the artworks – from far away and very close. The UN museum will also host a library, an auditorium for events, as well as twelve apartments for UN Artist within the Residence Program.

Urban Nation Museum
Image © GRAFT

URBAN NATION is an initiative by the foundation “Berliner Leben” that was founded by the Berlin housing association Gewobag in 2013. The museum forms a platform of international appeal for urban art. Hence, the art form ‘street art’ finds a representative platform and at the same time is accessible for visitors and residents of the quarter. Source by GRAFT.

Urban Nation Museum
Image © GRAFT
  • Location: Bülowstraße 7, Berlin, Germany
  • Architects: GRAFT
  • Founding Partners: Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz, Thomas Willemeit
  • Project Lead: Stefanie Götz, Denis Hegic, Anna Wittwer
  • Project Team: Lidia Beltran Carlos, Felix Götze, Christine Huber, Mats Koppe, Louis Lefebvre, Kudzai Magoche, Primoz Strazar, Thomas Quisinsky
  • Client: Berliner Leben Foundation
  • Year: 2016-2017
  • Images: Courtesy of GRAFT

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