Lighting for the Kunsthaus Zürich by David Chipperfield Architects

The new extension by David Chipperfield Architects Berlin sets an urban accent in the center of Zurich. The building adds 5000 m² to the museum’s exhibition spaces. What is now Switzerland’s largest art museum shows permanent and temporary exhibitions featuring art from the 13th century to the present.

© Faruk Pinjo

Dies ist eine Bildunterschrift

The new areas are used primarily for art of the 1960s. The lighting concept for the exhibition spaces, lounges and festival hall were developed by the Swiss office Matí Lichtgestaltung in collaboration with Zumtobel. It lets the exhibits take centre stage, directs visitors’ attention to the works and captivates with a diffident design language that carries through the entire space. The lighting specialists have used the Tecton continuous-row system in a special model, Panos LED downlights, Slotlight light lines, spotlights from the Supersystem series and, last but not least, the Arcos III spotlight with zoom focus – this was developed expressly for the changing requirements in exhibition spaces.

© Faruk Pinjo

Natural and artificial light complement each other in the new museum building. The changing lighting situations are mutually supportive depending on the time of day. “As a rule, a museum tends to want uniform, high-quality and stable lighting”, explains David Chipperfield. “On the other hand, people enjoy the variation of natural light, the idea that a cloud will float in front of the sun and change the light for a moment.” The product design for the Arcos II series comes from David Chipperfield and is characterized by its great flexibility in light colour and orientation. The Merkanal TunableWhite technology ensures that the light colour seamlessly transitions from warm white to daylight white. The luminaires are wirelessly connected and can be controlled individually via the basicDIM light-control app.