Jura limestone wraps around the concrete interiors of David Chipperfield Architects' long-awaited extension for the Kunsthaus Zurich museum in Switzerland.
Located in Heimplatz square in the old town of Zurich, the extension provides more gallery space for Kunsthaus Zurich ? making it the largest art museum in the country.
The Kunsthaus Zurich art museum is wrapped by Jura limestone fins
The new building was designed by David Chipperfield Architects' Berlin studio to resemble a freestanding structure, but it is directly connected to the museum's main Moser building via an underground passage.
Its monolithic form takes its cues from the city's 19th-century cantonal school at the north of the site and is intended to provide the square with a "clear urban edge". Limestone mimic traditional stone buildings in the area
"The project for the extension of Kunsthaus Zurich brings together the fundamental concerns of museum design with the responsibilities created by both the urban context and the relationship with the existing museum," explained studio founder David Chipperfield.
"We hope that the quality of the architecture, its spatial, formal and material resolution will guarantee that the extension, like Karl Moser's original building, becomes an integral part of the physical, social and cultural infrastructure of the city of Zurich."
The entrance extends the length of the building
David Chipperfield Architects first revealed the design for the Kun...