The museum shares space with the remains of a Gothic church and a 1950s chapel, and surrounds both the museum and the old church with a gray brick facade perforated like a cape.
The perforated brickwork allows certain areas of the museum to be filled with diffused light. As the seasons change, “variegated light shifts and plays on the ruins”, creating an ever-changing peaceful environment.
The museum has 16 different exhibition rooms. In the center of the building is a quiet and secluded secret courtyard for rest and reflection.
The choice of material plays a crucial role in the overall design. Zumthor is famous for taking his time to develop a project around his choice of materials and this project wasn’t an exception. The bricks used in this project were handcrafted by the Danish company Petersen Tegl specifically for this project and scorched with charcoal to add a warm color.
