Gasteig: The Latest Architecture and News

HENN have been selected to redesign the Gasteig, Europe's largest cultural center in Munich, Germany. The renovation and remodel aims to bring new life to the center after 30 years of use. Originally designed by the architecture partnership Raue, Rollenhagen, Grossmann and Lindemann, the Gasteig welcomes around two million visitors annually. The new design celebrates the building's role as a revered cultural hub and introduces a new glazed bridge to connect the existing parts of the building and bring transparency to the complex.

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After conducting a concert at Munich’s Gasteig concert hall, Leonard Bernstein offered a scathing edict for the building: “burn it down.”

The Gasteig’s behemoth structure of brick and mirrored glass never met Bernstein’s decree. Instead, it has stood for decades, garnering vitriol from those who resent its postmodern aesthetic. In a design competition hosted by the Gasteig, seventeen architecture firms have attempted to change the concert hall and cultural center’s public perception with varied renovation schemes.