Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer Architekten

Davos, Switzerland

1992

Gigon and Guyer Architekten is a Zurich based practice run by swiss born Annette Gigon and US born Mike Guyer, established in 1989. The Kirchner Museum in Davos was their first project as a firm and established their reputation for museum projects, having completed 15 museum projects to date. The jury of the Velux Daylight award concluded that the building was dedicated to daylight. “an innovative light solution, adapted to the climatic conditions of Davos is the basic idea and simultaneously the architectural concept of the building. Hardly another art museum before emphasized the opus of an artist in a similar way. Its influence on further museum-buildings is therefore of an outstanding meaning.”(8)

The building was created to house the painting of German expressionist painter, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kirchner lived in Davos from 1918 until his death in 1938. Davos and its surroundings inspired a lot of Kirshner’s works. The client was The Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Foundation Davos, and the building was a donation from the Benvenuta Family Foundation to house Kirchners works. Constructed in 1992, it was considered ground-breaking in the world of museum architecture. In 2012 it received the daylight award of the Velux foundation. “It uniquely combines functionality and aesthetics, architectural intrinsic value and service to art.”(9)

Gigon and Guyer carefully examined the regional conditions of light and climate. After the treatment of tuberculous patients in Davos due to its high climate, a new form of architecture was seen, light flooded rooms with wind protection and sun facing balconies and in order to protect against avalanches, houses and buildings were built with flat roofs, in which Davos soon become known for. However the Davos ‘flat roof’ is not quite flat but slightly inclined towards the middle, so melted snow flows through the roof, to this day all buildings in Davos must be built with this flat roof design, and is seen incorporated into the Kirchner museum.(10)

Davos is a small town in the alps with around 11,000 people, and is the highest town in Europe, situated in the alps. This means throughout the winter, evidently, the town is covered in snow. As snow is white, it obviously reflects light, actually making things seem brighter, and at night reflects artificial light giving to more light pollution. It is a popular skiing town, meaning more winter tourists. It also hosts the Annual Economic Forum. The buildings are all fairly low rise, with the flat roof design. Below shows the average sunshine hours throughout the year. As seen, there is not a dramatic difference between the summer and winter solstice, as it is closer to the equator. Temperatures reach about 16ºC in the summer and -10ºC in the winter. (11) (Graph (11))

With the ideas in mind of the local architecture, climate and to function of the building and how Gigon and Guyer  wanted the spaces to feel, the architects designed 4 cube structures, with the Davos flat roof and with special consideration to man and art and their interaction. The four cube structures, which are the exhibition halls, are connected by open spaces and foyers which open up a view of the alps and are described as spaces of reflection between galleries. They are arranged in such a way that allows the visitor to choose their own tour. (12)  “Gigon / Guyer created a crystalline building from the materials glass, concrete, steel and wood; In the sensitive combination of these building materials, however, they also came up with refined and complex architectural formulations, which transform the deliberately used simplicity of the museum, its shell and its interior spaces, into a built equivalent to Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's expressiveness.” (9)

On the outside of the building, the 4 cube galleries appear to be boxes of the same height. With glass being the main material seen on the exterior. The traffic areas and connection spaces have clear glass, with frosted glass on the roof ad around the perimiters around the tops of the galleries which lets daylight fall into the spaces above the galleries where it is controlled and which illuminates the exhibition rooms below. Etched insulating glass is also seen around the art halls. (13) The main structure of the building is concrete and it is left exposed in the connecting rooms and hallways leading to the galleries.

Photo-electric sensors detect when there is too much or too little daylight, and shades are used to block excess sunlight, and when there is too little light, artificial lights are used and bounce off the opaque ceiling, to control the amount of light in the galleries. (14) This type of technology that allowed for controlled, even light, no matter the time of day, was ahead of its time in terms of gallery design. The light in each gallery is soft and gentle, as the light system in the ceiling provides even light through the room. It means the art pieces are well lit and don’t have any brighter/darker spots, glares or harsh shadows. Especially when displaying sculptures the lighting can highly effect the pieces, sometimes harsh lighting and shadows can both ruin the piece or it can add to it. It makes for easy viewing for the visitors of the paintings having this even light system.

This project shows how the way museums and galleries use light is really interesting. Due to the high value of the pieces, and designing spaces that are both practical and aesthetically pleasing for visitors, required a more thought through approach than is originally anticipated. When having thought about the turner watercolour pieces only being displayed in the National Gallery of Ireland in January, as that when light is at its weakest, ensuring the pristine condition of the pieces, and it shows how crucial gallery design is when thinking of daylight. Museum design is really interesting as when presenting artwork, the pieces want to have even lighting, and to be bright to clearly see the pieces. While the 4 galleries are carefully controlled in term of the daylight system in the Kirchner Museum, the other spaces in the building make use of the views of the alps and the town of Davos beyond, connecting the museum to nature and the outdoors.

Photographs - Petr Smidek, 2002

8.       Gigon & Guyer - The Daylight Award [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: http://thedaylightaward.com/gigon-and-guyer/

9.       Architecture: Kirchner Museum Davos [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 20]. Available from: https://www.kirchnermuseum.ch/de/architektur/

10.     Architecture | Davos Klosters Tourism [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 22]. Available from: https://www.davos.ch/en/davos-klosters/portrait-image/storytelling/architecture/

11.     Climate and average monthly weather in Davos Dorf, Switzerland [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 27]. Available from: https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine,Davos-Dorf,Switzerland

12.     The Kirchner Museum in Davos - simple architecture for expressionist art ›Monument Preservation Switzerland [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 20]. Available from: https://denkmalpflege-schweiz.ch/2014/04/17/das-kirchner-museum-in-davos-schlichte-architektur-fuer-expressionistische-kunst/

13.     24 - Kirchner Museum, Davos Platz: 52 best buildings in Graubünden [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 20]. Available from: https://52bestebauten.ch/24-kirchner-museum-davos/

14.     archiweb.cz - Kirchner Museum Davos [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 20]. Available from: https://www.archiweb.cz/en/b/kirchner-museum