A translucent sculpture that serves as a space for science education

The Experimenta Science Centre in Heilbronn, a city on the Neckar River near Stuttgart in the state of Baden-Württemberg, is Germany’s largest science museum. The goal of the project, which was launched at the beginning of the new millennium as a public-private partnership led by the municipal administration with the backing of private sponsors including the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, was to create a new cultural venue and centre for learning and experience in science and technology through the regeneration of an abandoned industrial site on the river islands.

The Hagenbucher warehouses were built in the 1930s in the so-called “mill district”, where Carl Hagenbucher & Sohn stored seeds for the production of vegetable oils. The austere, utilitarian volumes clad with a continuous surface of clinker tiles fell into disuse after the war and were eventually acquired by the city council and transformed into the first section of the museum by the Berlin-based firm Studioinge. Experimenta, which opened in 2009, was a huge success, attracting 1.3 million visitors in less than ten years. In 2017, it was closed to the public once again for the subsequent extension project.

The new building, a sculptural volume adjacent to the existing structure, was designed by the award-winning Berlin-based practice led by Mathias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton, the winners of a competition launched in 2013. The new 17,600 square metre space blends into the surrounding urban landscape and is encased in a translucent glass and aluminium envelope that is completely integrated with the structure.

Based on the pentagonal floorplan, a load-bearing metal skeleton of columns and composite steel girders creates trussed tubes that connect to a reinforced concrete core on each floor, creating a sense of dynamism. The five above-ground levels have various functions (exhibition, service, education and recreation) and are housed in pentagonal horseshoe-shaped volumes. These stacked volumes rotate relative to one another to form a helix that winds its way through all the exhibition spaces from the entrance piazza up to the landscaped roof terrace.

Inside, the large U-shaped volumes revolve around an expansive, open central connecting space. The only underground level is a service area that connects to the Science Dome, a hybrid dome theatre equipped with a state-of-the-art star projector and an externally visible cupola.

The pentagonal structures are mirrored in the shape of the Italian porcelain tiles from Casalgrande Padana chosen for the floors. These 60×60 cm large-format tiles from the Architecture collection were installed in three different uniform shades that blend perfectly with the architecture and the colours of the building: Cool Grey, Medium Grey and Dark Grey.

To comply with the Experimenta Science Centre’s mission as a “world of learning and experience” aimed specifically at younger visitors, the firm abandoned its signature colour schemes and embraced principles of sustainability-conscious design. According to Mathias Sauerbruch, “experimentation has become an architectural principle, pushing the limits of what is possible” in this project. Experimentation and sustainability are the hallmarks of the museum building, which has been certified by the DGNB-German Sustainable Building Council protocol for sustainability strategies covering energy management (including TTC Timmler Technology’s integrated gravity cooling system), maintenance costs, meticulous selection of materials and indoor comfort.