Küppersmühle Museum Building, MKM Duisburg Photos, Herzog & de Meuron Architecture Design
Küppersmühle Museum, Germany
MKM Duisburg: German Museum building design by Herzog & de Meuron Architects
Updated 23 Sep 2021 + 3 Feb 2010
Design: Herzog & de Meuron, Switzerland
Location: Duisburg, Germany

Photos © Simon Menges
Museum Küppersmühle Extension
A grain mill was erected in 1860 on the site of the present Museum Küppersmühle by industrialist Wilhelm Vedder, one of the founding fathers of Duisburg?s Inner Harbour. In 1900 the first mill using the most up-to-date technology went into operation in the Inner Harbour, which became known as the ?bread basket of the Ruhr district?, and in 1908 the earlier buildings were replaced by the three-part structure now housing the museum.
The business was taken over in 1912 by the Werner & Nicola works, who added a boiler house with chimney. The adjoining steel silos were constructed in the 1930s. In 1969 the company merged with the Küppers works of Homberg, which gave its name to the mill and the museum. The mill closed down in 1972.

The Museum Küppersmühle (MKM), a project by Herzog & de Meuron dating from 1999, was the first milestone in the transformation of the Inner Harbour into an attractive focus of urban life. As a museum, the former mill, with its historic brick elevations, became the centre of a new, high-grade, multi-use inner-city location. Since 1999 the Küppersmühle has housed an art muse...