Architecture
The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein was built by the Swiss architects Meinrad Morger and Heinrich Degelo, along with Christian Kerez. Together they have created a museum building of great structural complexity and discreet simplicity. The closed form is a “black box” of tinted concrete and black basalt stone. River pebbles embedded in the building’s exterior provide a subtle coloration, forming a link to the landscape of the Rhine Valley. The hand-carved surface of the facade invites touching, and reflects the surroundings. Long rows of windows open the black cube to both inside and outside.
Inside the black box is a perfect White Cube. The building is clearly structured with maximum space devoted to art. The visible exterior of the building corresponds almost exactly to the public exhibition spaces. There are six exhibition rooms arranged around two diametrically opposed staircases. The ground plan, reminiscent of a windmill’s sails, enables diagonal views through the whole building. These exhibition rooms offer art the largest possible freedom through their clarity and precision.
In 2008 the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein has been voted one of The World’s Top 10 Ugliest Buildings and Monuments, a list created by the travel experts at the VirtualTourist website.
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“The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extrahuman architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape.”
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