KUNSTHAUSPLATZ REDESIGN OF THE ENSEMBLE “AM RATHAUSGÄSSCHEN”
Since the April of 2011, the area in and around the Kunsthaus Dresden – Städtische Galerie für Gegenwartskunst / Municipal Gallery for Contemporary Art has been undergoing redesign work commissioned by the City Development Department of the State Capital of Saxony, Dresden, according to the plans of artist Jozef Legrand. The new square will be opened for use by the public most likely at the beginning of October.
Upon an initiative of the Kunsthaus Dresden – Städtische Galerie für Gegenwartskunst / Municipal Gallery for Contemporary Art, and the City Development Department of Dresden from the summer of 2010, a site which was long a neglected green space and initially planned as a turning area with a classical street profile is now being developed as a new constructional ensemble defining the space in the inner Neustadt: the Kunsthausplatz.
The area is laid out as a spacious, cobbled square on which the Kunsthaus will now take on a central position as a representative main building. The Kunsthausplatz will thus become a traffic-reduced urban anchor for residents and visitors of the inner Neustadt. As provided for in the urban framework plan for the inner Neustadt, the design of the ensemble will be a vital building block of urban repair and monument conservation.
With the Kunsthausplatz, the Atelier Jozef Legrand has designed a place that functions as a social, cultural and artistic hinge, as a site for encounter and dialogue between the Baroque Altstadt and modern post-war architecture that invites one to linger. In the future, the Kunsthausplatz will mark the entrance to the Baroque quarter and – provided that the Rähnitzgasse is opened to the Neustädter Markt – lastingly improve its connection to the Neustädter Markt and the Altstadt centre.
The square as well as the entire ensemble are made of high-quality natural stone. The area inside and outside of the Kunsthaus will be covered with grey cobbles bordered by a band of dark granite. Various words are set into the black granite edge that open up associative spaces, for example, heute (today), morgen (tomorrow), er (he), du (you), gestern (yesterday), dort (there), hier (here), ich (I), sie (you), lieben (love), fühlen (feel). These terms are connected across the square – all the way to the inner courtyard of the Kunsthaus (where the word dort (there) can be found) – by a network of granite stripes that set them in relation to each other. Three benches form curved lines with a total length of around 80 m. The benches frame the trees located at the centre of the square and intensify the square’s character as a place of encounter.
Artistic design of the Kunsthausplatz: Atelier Jozef Legrand
Client:
Landeshauptstadt / State Capital Dresden
Stadtplanungsamt / City Development Department
Building authority:
Landeshauptstadt / State Capital Dresden, Straßen- und Tiefbauamt
Site management: TÜV Rheinland Grebner Ruchay Consulting GmbH
Site supervision: IGBA Dresden GmbH
Construction work: Henschke Bau GmbH
Benches: Ulrike Kühn Außenraumausstattung
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Opening, 1. Oct. 2011, 14:30
Talk between Jozef Legrand, artist, and Petra Reichensperger, artistic director, Kunsthaus Dresden