Planned and constructed in just six weeks, the Golden Workshop was installed to accompany an exhibition of the same theme taking place at the nearby LWL State Museum for Art and Cultural History.

Four tapered wings gave the temporary pavilion a windmill-shaped plan, which accommodated a functioning metalwork foundry and a small information centre.

Ridged plates of golden copper clad the entire exterior and large square windows on the ends of each wing framed views of the activities taking place inside.

All of the surfaces and furniture inside the pavilion were plywood, while details such as desk lamps, tabletops and door handles were picked out in black.

We've spotted a trend for golden buildings in recent weeks. See our earlier stories about a golden library and a museum extension clad in golden shingles, or see all our stories about golden materials here.

Photography is by Christian Richters.

Here's some more explanation from modulorbeat:

“Golden Glory” and a Golden Workshop

On display in Münster from February 26 to May 28, 2012 is the exhibition “Golden Glory. Medieval Treasury Art in Westphalia”, developed by the Westfalen-Lippe Regional Council, the diocese Münster and the excellence cluster “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster. The exhibition presents some of the finest goldsmith’s work from the late medieval period in Westphalia. Some 300 secular and sacral pieces may be seen across 1500 square meters: symbols for the infinite, the magical and the divine, expression of and testament to the power and wealth of their owners. The exhibition will be shown in Münster at two places simultaneously: at LWL State Museum for Art and Cultural History and at the Domkammer [St. Paul‘s Cathedral Treasury].

Both exhibition sites border the Münster Domplatz [cathedral square]. However, the LWL Museum is currently undergoing renovation and the Domkammer entrance has always been hard to find. The large exhibition suffers from lack of space, as well as an appropriate, more easily acces- sible entrance. In addition was the curatorial wish to present not only the historical objects, but also the artisanal process showing how they were actually created.

Thus arose the idea to erect a small, attractive pavilion containing a gold workshop as well as an information point: a temporary construction for the duration of the exhibition that should reflect the exhibition theme and draw notice to the Domplatz.

Münster’s Glittering Gold Pavilions, 2007 and 2012

The Münster-based architectural group “modulorbeat”, consisting of Marc Günnewig and Jan Kampshoff, was commissioned to design the pavilion. They had already created a portable, temporary pavilion in 2007 for “skulptur projekte münster”, which garnered much attention, not only due to its gold-coloured façade.

modulorbeat developed their new creation for “Golden Glory” together with students from the Münster School of Architecture (msa). At the time of their commission, Günnewig and Kampshoff were searching for a seminar theme to teach at the school.

In varying groups throughout the semester, several designs were developed, linked, revised, discarded and then revised anew, once the construction’s precise location on Domplatz had been determined. With a second group of students, they commenced planning and the realization of the 95 sq. metre pavilion, which was completed in six weeks’ time.

In order to compensate for the slope of the Domplatz, the pavilion was built on top of simple piles made of in-situ concrete and wood, which would leave no traces once they were dismantled. The building has a cross-shaped layout with four “wings”. Each wing open inwards like a funnel, so that the layout is more reminiscent of an abstract windmill than a crucifix. The effect is an inviting gesture to visitors, as the inside path opens up onto the central workshop area.

The walls are made of full wooden plywood panels. Indoors, the wood is visible, lending the foundry area a robust, resilient atmosphere. From the outside, the compact pavilion seems similarly robust, but here the façade is covered in eye-catching, gold-copper metal panels.

The furrowed, vertical profile of the shimmering panels along each of the four wings narrows towards the centre. This creates a dynamic rhythm, in which the sparkling metal mixes with a play of light and shadows that shifts with the passing of the sun overhead. The small pavilion seems to be a portable, accordion-like construction that could be folded up and transported to another location at any time.

The precise construction achieves a lot with little, while allowing for a merry playfulness: the simple forms and materials gain incredible comple- xity through subtle and precise displacements, elevating the project to a most entertaining building. Despite its symmetrical layout, it never looks like a cross but instead seems to reinvent itself at every new perspective. This awakens the urge to circle around the building again and again to look through the large openings at the end of the four wings into its centre.

Ceiling-high glass elements open up the building completely, so that the view from outside reaches into the foundry and beyond – through the lightly askew axis – to the opposite opening. Suddenly, the small building appears to be amazingly deep.

The architecture reflects the theme of the exhibition not only with its brilliant encasement, but much more in the fine workmanship and meticulous details that are unusual, especially for a temporary pavilion.

Using a very reduced selection of materials and colours, the pavilion’s interior design allows for the concentration required by this fine and detailed work. Floor, ceiling and all walls are, like all furniture and other components, crafted from a light coloured wood. This includes the sliding door, through which the foundry can be separated from the information area.

In contrast, everything having directly to do with the work has been painted pitch black: the table lamps, the work surfaces, the screw clamps, and even the oil radiators, lamp cables and the kitchen sink.

The interior was not only designed but also completely built by modulorbeat together with the students. In fact, all elements used are cost-effective, standardized components that can be found in any hardware shop; the consistent design and uniform colour scheme are what transform them into something elegant.

This is not merely for design’s sake, but serves as a stage for the foundry’s small protagonists: the golden elements are more recognizable when set against black.

Thus this marvellous architecture functions on all levels, from big to small. Even from a distance, the golden façade attracts passers-by and indicates the way inside, where the wood and black work surfaces then lead the eye to the tiniest, most valuable things – the objects, which this is all actually about.

This is the most golden gold foundry that Münster has ever seen, and awakens in its visitors what might be the greatest compliment a temporary building could ask for: the wish to call out, “linger on, thou art so fair!”

The post Golden Workshop by modulorbeat and
Münster School of Architecture students appeared first on Dezeen.

This glass library by new studio Zauberscho[e]n stands in a former stable yard in Münster, Germany.

Entitled The Horse on the Ceiling, the structure is located on the Leonardo campus of The University of Applied Sciences and serves the schools of art, architecture and design.

The roof is supported by columns with forms derived from photographs of horses' legs, while a gap between the new building and the existing stable block illuminates the older brickwork.

Rainwater is collected from the roof and cascaded in a curtain of water over the windows.

The project was completed while the architects were still studying, in collaboration with Professor Herbert Buehler of Buehler und Buehler.

Photographs are by Roland Borgmann.

Here's some more information from Zauberscho[e]n:

the horse on the ceiling

Library for Architecture, Art and Design, Leonardo Campus, Muenster

The New building stands in front of the stables of the Leonardo Campus in the north of Muenster and joins with the academy of art, the muenster school of architecture and the all three institutions are merged in a library and stand behind the walls of a part of the former horse stables. The shelves required more space. But where?

In the past horses stood in front of the stables, now the books are going to stand there.

They are framed by a glass facade whose large-sized glass panels are reinforced by glass fins. This façade, made out of especially clear glass, shapes the building through its great transparency. The books so become during daytime and especially at night from the outside an important focus of the university campus and so form a memorable sign of education.

The space is divided into three parts and offers different working atmospheres to the students. Up front the facade develops into three study-carrels for an undisturbed learning, in the rear stands a large table for groups, separable as required through an acoustic curtain. As a transformable element it can form an individual thinking-zone or open up a larger area. The outside is printed with a digitally generated motive on the basis of the “School of Athens“ by Raphael. Through its indifference the curtain gene- rates a constantly changing relation to space.

Gottfried Sempers postulate for polychromy and his conclusion that colour has a less bawling effect than glaring plain white becomes clear in the interaction of intense green ceiling and black floor with the chromaticity of the trees outside and the brick color of the surrounding buildings. Looking through the facade the surrounding appears in high gloss, much more colourful as this can be experienced outside the building.

In the rear of the building the wing-like roof rests on three columns. Their form is orientated on a moment of movement of the leg of a horse who has been moving there in former times. They are digitally generated and a product of a computer supported, modern steel technology.

In Muenster it rains a lot. Along an open cullis the entire length of the building the rainfall is being staged and becomes a spatial experience as it drops down like a curtain in the form of a second layer in front of the glass facade. The rainwater is being collected in an infiltration ditch in front of the building and returned ecologically to the terrain.

Between the new and old roof a light gap illuminates the historic stable wall. Stairs and openings in the wall prevent standstill and contribute to an interconnection of historic building and new extension.

Client: Land Nordrhein-Westfalen
User: University of Applied Sciences Muenster, Academy of Art Muenster
Function: Library for Architecture, Art and Design
Location: Leonardo-Campus Muenster
Programm: 400sqm, 1450 shelf-meter, 3 studycarrels, singleworkingzone, conferencezone
Architects: Planungsgemeinschaft zauberscho(e)n, Muenster Buehler und Buehler Prof. Dipl. Ing. Architekten BDA, Muenchen
Team (design): zauberscho(e)n: Mathias Horstmann, Andreas Schuering, Stephan Weber Buehler und Buehler: Prof. Prof. h.c. Herbert Buehler
Team (realization): zauberscho(e)n: Andreas Schuering, Stephan Weber Buehler und Buehler: Prof. Prof. h.c. Herbert Buehler

Structural engineer: Ingenieurgemeinschaft Fuehrer Kosch Juerges, Aachen
General contractor: Averbeck Bau GmbH, Ostbevern
Steel construction: Bentheimer Stahl und Hallenbau, Bad Bentheim
Facade planning /-construction: Josef Gartner GmbH, Gundelfingen
Planning + construction time: 2008-2010
Completion: April 2010

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The post The Horse on the Ceiling by Zauberscho[e]n appeared first on Dezeen.