Dortmunder U – Center for the Arts and Creativity
Interior
If you walk through the “art vertical” on the ground floor, you enter the foyer, which connects the museum forecourt with the new neighbourhood to the west like a covered urban piazza. Adjacent to the foyer are a museum shop and the cafeteria, which are also accessible outside museum opening hours. The same applies to the event hall on the ground floor and the “cathedral room” on the top level. The “art vertical” enables both a tour of the museum and a targeted visit to individual exhibition areas. The visual relationships through this narrow, high-ceilinged space and the staging of the historic building as an exhibit in its own right create an exciting dialogue with the focused perception of the art on the exhibition floors.
All rooms for administration and workshops are grouped together on the northern outer wall, thus ensuring short internal routes and direct access to the individual exhibition levels.
Spatial penetrations from the inside to the outside, such as the library on the north side, are formulated as conically warped metal-clad cubatures in counterpoint to the existing red brick façades and refer to the new use of the old listed building.
A roof terrace adjoining the “cathedral room” crowns the front, lower part of the U-shaped tower. From the terraced steps, visitors can enjoy a spectacular view far beyond Dortmund city centre.