The Architecture of Frank Gehry
The center of Lippe in East Westphalia boasts one of the most innovative museum buildings worldwide, namely Marta Herford, built according to the plans of the American star architect Frank Gehry. The deconstructivist spatial sculpture, with its choreography of volumes, falling and towering, whirling shapes, houses a “creative system” of exhibition rooms, event forum, café, shop, seminar rooms and offices.
In fact, the whole Marta Herford building complex consists of four individual, yet skillfully combined components. The exhibition wing (Museum), made up of three small and two large galleries, and a slightly curved, approximately 30-meter-long lecture and event hall (Forum) run parallel and open up towards the street in the form of a narrow forecourt.
After crossing this forecourt (Plaza), we enter a narrow, glass entrance building leading to a disused and converted old factory building. The rear of this building, designed by the architect Martin Lippold and built in the 1930s, borders directly on the river Aa. A riverbank café/restaurant adjacent to it, which boasts a two-story bar made of copper and an attractive terrace above the river, complements the ensemble.
While the ground floor serves as a lobby leading to all other areas, the first floor is used as an exhibition gallery. The upper stories accommodate the offices of the Museum management, the furniture industry associations, the furniture technical inspection authority as well as the student advisory service of the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld and the University of Applied Sciences in Lippe.
Incidentally, Gehry’s architecturally separated arrangement of functions by no means foregoes an ingenious theatricality alternating between presentation and concealment. The continuous brick facing of the façades, the reddish-brown color of which makes reference to the industrial architectural style of the direct surroundings, is typical of the region. Approximately 180,000 clinker bricks cover the curved and inclined exterior walls of over 3,000 square meters’ surface area. However, its curved and undulating stainless steel roof lends the building an incredible lightness.
Image Gallery
Project Data
| Constructor : | MKK GmbH (today: Marta Herford gGmbH) |
| Architect: | Frank Gehry, GP, LLP in cooperation with Archimedes GmbH |
| Project management: | Hartwig Rullkötter, Herford |
| Planning: | 1998–2001 |
| Construction: | 2001–2005 |
| Grand opening: | 7. Mai 2005 |
| Site area: | 8.100 qm |
| Developed area: | 3.200 qm |
| Gross floor area: | 7.000 qm |
| Usable area: | 6.000 qm |
| Public space: | 400 qm |
| Exhibition space: | 2.500 qm |
| Converted space: | 37.900 m3 |
Materials
| Stainless steel: | ca. 5.000 qm |
| Brick walls: | 3.120 qm (180.000 bricks) |
| Plasterboard: | 6.050 qm |
| Anti-friction columns: | ca. 4.000 m |
| Steel: | ca.400 t |
| Construction steel: | 280 t |
| Reinforced concrete: | ca. 500 m3 |
Marta Architecture Guide
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Sun und on bank holidays 2pm.
Ticket: 1,50 € plus entry fee (duration 1 hour)
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