The new Porsche museum is taking shape"Most spectacular construction project in the Company’s history" – completion 2008
Stuttgart. Construction of the new museum of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is running at full speed. "This is the most spectacular construction project in our Company’s history," said Anton Hunger, head of Press and Public Relations at the sports car manufacturer, and also responsible for the museum project. The shells of both basements and the first floor have now been completed. Work on the second floor and the three supporting concrete cores, which will bear the dynamically designed, apparently floating exhibition body, is progressing rapidly. A total of around 21,000 cubic centimeters of concrete and 4,000 tons of concrete reinforcement have already been laid.
"The new museum will be the business card at our headquarters in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and will represent the Company both inwardly and outwardly," commented Hunger, emphasizing the importance of the project for the sports car manufacturer. The entire historical and contemporary knowledge of Porsche will be gathered in one location, on floor space of around 21,000 square meters. Hunger anticipates that the building will be completed in the second half of 2008.
Parallel to the work on the construction site, the exhibition design and the preparation of the exhibits is also proceeding apace. Christina Becker, project manager of the new museum, commented: "The exhibition will be dedicated to the era of Professor Ferdinand Porsche and his development work in the period between 1900 and 1948, all gathered in one place. Connected to this, as the main theme of the exhibition, is the product chronology of the Porsche sports car, which will be supplemented by more in-depth topic areas that are of particular significance for the Company’s history and philosophy."
At the same time, the sports car manufacturer will adhere to the proven design of the "rolling museum." "We will regularly exchange the 80 vehicles in the new museum with other racing and sports cars from our pool," announced Klaus Bischof, director of the Porsche museum. Most of the exhibits will also be displayed at external events and driven in the future. "The patina of our racing and sports cars thus acquired should be deliberately visible in the museum," said Bischof, "to inspire the visitor with their authenticity." Numerous models, which will be on show in the new museum for the first time, are currently being prepared or restored, such as the Porsche 909 Bergspyder, a technology pioneer in light construction, which is now once again in a drivable condition for the first time since 1968.
A historical workshop is being constructed in the new museum for this work, which will give visitors an insight into the restoration of the exclusive sports car. In future, this workshop will not only feature the restoration and servicing of own exhibits, but will also focus on customers’ historical Porsche vehicles. In addition, the Company archive will be housed in the new museum. In addition to a restaurant and coffee bar in the foyer, there will be a conference area on the top floor as well as an exclusive restaurant, which will be opened independently of the museum operation and may also be leased by external interested parties.
Originally, 170 architectural offices from all over Europe applied to build the new museum at Porsche-Platz. The sports car manufacturer invited ten of these offices to compete, from which Viennese architects Delugan Meissl emerged as the winner in February 2005. Once Stuttgart state capital issued the building approval for the ambitious project just a few months later, construction work was begun in October 2005.
GO
21.09.2006