Jewish Museum FFM

Staab Architekten

Products

1023
Door handle fitting

In the 1950s, the Swiss ar­chi­tect, sculp­tor and de­signer Max Bill got to­gether with Ernst Moeckel to fashion a door handle that made design history as the ‘Ulm handle’. It, in turn, prompted Jo­hannes Potente to produce the FSB 1023, which has long served as an al­ter­na­tive to the common U-shaped models.

1023
Door handle fitting
1053
Door handle fitting
1023
Door handle fitting
1053
Door handle fitting
1053
Door handle fitting
73 7375
Design and se­cu­rity
1023
Door handle fitting
1023
Door handle fitting
1053
Door handle fitting
1023
Door handle fitting
1053
Door handle fitting
1053
Door handle fitting
73 7375
Design and se­cu­rity

Two eras, one ensemble

In 1988, the Jewish Museum in Frank­furt am Main was the first of its kind in Germany. It was closed for ren­o­va­tion for around five years – during which time public in­ter­ven­tions in the urban space have re­placed museum op­er­a­tions. The ren­o­vated museum, which re­opened in October 2020 with a newly built ex­ten­sion, wants to con­tinue this ex­pe­ri­ence with open­ness and public life. As a com­mu­nica­tive en­sem­ble of old and new, it now opens to the city with a public square at its front and invites vis­i­tors to become part of its world with a wide range of public of­fer­ings. Staab Ar­chitek­ten de­signed the new build with a five-cor­ner floor plan and po­si­tioned it at a dis­tance to the ex­ist­ing build­ing in order to create an ex­pand­ing outdoor area.

Pre­vi­ously seen as a useless space, the newly ap­pointed Bertha Pap­pen­heim square now en­riches the cityscape. A piece by Ariel Schlesinger graces the square, a sculp­ture of two trees in­ter­twined: one with its roots in the ground, the other with its roots stretch­ing into the sky. The new build­ing in­ter­acts subtly with the old in its pro­por­tion, el­e­va­tion and po­si­tion­ing. It con­tin­ues the light-coloured ren­der­ing and dis­creet hor­i­zon­tal tiers of the facade, so that despite its con­tem­po­rary mono­lithic ra­di­ance, it still forms a clear and organic en­sem­ble with the old build­ing. Con­trary to the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which Daniel Libe­skind com­pleted in 2001, Staab Ar­chitek­ten did not produce an ar­chi­tec­tural in­ter­pre­ta­tion of the ex­is­ten­tial dev­as­ta­tion of the Holo­caust.

It may not be sym­bol­i­cally charged ar­chi­tec­ture, but it does give the visitor oc­ca­sion to reflect on the images and stories within as they walk through the build­ing. Like the old build­ing, which was once the res­i­dence of the Roth­schild family, the new build­ing is more a homage to Jewish every­day life in the city. It is only right that the museum comes to life through the in­clu­sion not just of a public library but also a kosher deli, in­te­grat­ing itself in the day-to-day of every Frank­furt res­i­dent.

Architect and object

Photo: ©Zuzanna Kałużna

‘The ex­pan­sive exposed con­crete sur­faces and free layout of the space evoke a really archaic im­pres­sion of the space, and this effect is made even stronger by the light stream­ing in from above,’ Staab Ar­chitek­ten say of the at­mos­phere in the newly created in­te­rior of the Jewish Museum.

Modern minimalism meets the opulence of the ‘Go?t Rothschild’

The in­te­rior of the new build­ing is modern, spa­cious and min­i­mal­ist. The design is marked by high-qual­ity fin­ishes that give a tan­gi­ble char­ac­ter to the ma­te­ri­als. Finely pol­ished large-for­mat exposed con­crete walls, ceil­ings and steps lend the central cor­ri­dor con­nect­ing all of the areas its con­tem­po­rary yet time­less ra­di­ance.

The library, by con­trast, is com­pletely clad in light ash wood, giving it a refined yet cosy at­mos­phere. The strong ref­er­ence to the outside world man­i­fests itself re­peat­edly in over­sized window cut-outs that offer a view of the Frank­furt train station quarter.

All of this stands in in­spi­ra­tional con­trast to the opulent rooms of the old build­ing, which fea­tures vaulted, in­tri­cate pan­elled ceil­ings, curved lines and classic columns in the ‘Go?t Roth­schild’. The ar­chi­tects re­tained the res­i­den­tial char­ac­ter of the build­ing and re­stored it by re­mov­ing the ex­ten­sions that were added in the 1980s. Vis­i­tors tour the museum through a series of rooms, where they can admire the style of Louis XVI just as much as that of Louis XIV. The elegant brass tone, which appears re­peat­edly in the design by Staab Ar­chitek­ten for the new build­ing in the form of finely pared-down window frames, stair­way ban­is­ters and doors, can also be seen in the handles used.

The ar­chi­tects opted for the FSB 1023 or the 1053 model, with its gentle curve as an al­ter­na­tive to the classic U-shape. When it comes to door fit­tings, the safety aspect is es­pe­cially rel­e­vant for a Jewish museum. Handles FSB 73 7575 01510 7625, 73 7575 05510 7625 and 73 7384 01510 6204 were in­stalled as se­cu­rity fit­tings.

Building details

Photos: ©Brigida Gon­za­les

Location

Jewish Museum FFM

Bertha-Pap­pen­heim-Platz 1,
60311 Frank­furt am Main,
Germany

Di­rec­tions

BESbswy