Kunsthaus Bregenz
Peter Zumthor's glass and concrete cube by Lake Constance, showing commissioned contemporary art.
Kunsthaus Bregenz opened in 1997 a short walk from the shore of Lake Constance, to a design by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. The building is a compact cube wrapped in overlapping etched glass panels hung on a steel frame, standing clear of the concrete structure behind. Daylight passes through this outer skin into a cavity and then through glass ceilings into each gallery, so the rooms are lit almost entirely from above and change with the weather outside.
Inside there are four almost identical square floors of exposed concrete, without windows or fixed partitions, reached by a single staircase set into the wall. The house keeps no collection; instead it commissions artists to make work for these rooms, and many exhibitions are conceived specifically for the building. A separate administration wing on Karl-Tizian-Platz holds the offices, the cafe and the KUB Billboards, an outdoor space for artists' works.
Highlights
- Etched glass skin by Peter Zumthor, lit from within after dark
- Four column-free concrete galleries lit only from above
- Exhibitions commissioned and made for the building
- KUB Billboards showing artists' work in the open air
