We have designed a new foyer for the Fredericianum in collaboration with Zak Group. The museum opened its doors in 1779 as the world’s very first purpose-built public museum. Since 1955 the building became the focus of the documenta exhibition, and has been a central hub for contemporary art ever since.
The central space is loosely defined by two large, movable volumes: the ticket desk/bar and a long steel table with additional book display. A café table, umbrella stand, postcard stand, magazine holder and new light fittings complete the furniture family, populating the space in ever changing configurations.
The foyer lies central to the facade of the Fridericianum building, with a symmetric layout of doors towards the entrance, the two exhibition spaces and the Kunstverein exhibition space. Since several doors lead to the exhibition spaces, the redundant doors are infilled with 4 m tall bookshelves, framing the space of the bookshop. On the opposite side, benches are built into the window sills towards the main facade creating niche-like spaces overlooking the foyer.
For the new foyer we designed a family of furniture pieces that could give the museum the flexibility to transform the foyer to host different functions such as a talk, a screening or an opening. The programme includes a bookshop, a café and a ticket desk that can be transformed into a bar, while maintaining the original feeling of the space as one big 'empty' room.