stiftung insel hombroich museum

Poetic is Álvaro Siza’s idea of nature and so is his project placed into the landscape.  Arriving at the Raketenstation of Insel Hombroich, first there is only the roof of the building visible. A well staged way leads the visitor through earth walls to the main entrance. Entering the museum, someone can reach after a turn the main space, that shows with a spectacular view the main intention of the building. All rooms are orientated around a center court, that offers a framed view to the landscape and the skyline of Düsseldorf. On an arm-like extension of the building is the volume that hosts the photo-collection and gives even more tension to the ensemble. The exterior walls are covered with the same irregular type of brick like the existing buildings of the foundation, it’s a recovered brick from old houses. Solid oak beams sustain the roof and at the same moment are the visible ceiling of the one-story height building. The floor is a little above the surrounding fields, not to loose the contact to the environment. The flat volume shows with its low windows and not very high rooms a horizontal dimension and its relation to the landscape. The floor is built with oak boards, the walls are white. The almost white Portuguese limestone is used for the restrooms, the entrance building and the windowsills.

Álvaro Joaquim Melo Siza Vieira was born in Matosinhos (near Porto) in 1933. He studied at the School of Architecture, University of Porto. He was a collaborator of Arch. Fernando Távora from 1955 to 1958. He taught at ESBAP and was appointed Professor of Construction in 1976. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Ecole Polythéchnique of Lausanne, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University Graduated school of Design. He set up his office in 1958. He is the architect of more than one hundred forty buildings and projects includine Recuperation of House and Annex at Quinta da Povoa (1985-1986) and the School of Architecture, Porto University (1994). He has received numerous prizes, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1992) and the Praemium Imperiale (1998).

Rudolf Finsterwalder was born in 1966 in Rosenheim, Germany. From 1986 to 1991 he studies interior-architecture at FH Rosenheim. From 1992 to 1996 he studies architecture at TU Berlin.
From 1991 to-1993 he works with Benedict Tonon and Hufnagel/ Pütz/ Rafaelian in Berlin f.e. head-quarter of Deutsche Bank with Guggenheim, Berlin. From 1994 to1996 he works with Alvaro Siza in Porto, Portugal. f.e. “Cargaleiro Foundation” Lisbon. From 1996 to 1999 he works with Ortner & Ortner Berlin. Selection of Projects
2004 House Pohl in Neukirchen
2004 Spaceplacelab Foundation Insel Hombroich
2005 House Langer in Potsdam
2005 House Araujo in Moledo, Portugal
2005 - Museum for art foundation Rosenheim
2007 - Rock, Climbing Hall, Stephanskirchen
2007 - “polyethylene”, rome
2008 Casa Araujo, Moledo, Portugal
2008 - Museum for Architecture with Alvaro Siza in Hombroich
2008 -- “Spaceplacelab” for Karl-Ludwig-Schweisfurth foundation
2009 - gridshell for Karl-Ludwig-Schweisfurth foundation