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David Chipperfield Stirling Prize
by ArchitectureWeek
The Stirling Prize for 2007 has been awarded to the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach am Neckar, Germany, designed by David Chipperfield Architects. With a spare colonnade around its boxy, minimalist form, the Museum (Literaturmuseum der Moderne) is something of a neoclassical Parthenon, helping the larger cluster of buildings — which also includes the National Schiller Museum (1903) and the Archive for German Literature (1970s) — come together as a seeming Acropolis atop its ridge overlooking the River Neckar. The Museum of Modern Literature houses texts by 20th-century German authors, brought together into one collection after German Reunification. In what the jury recognized as a "tough brief," David Chipperfield Architects was charged with creating a building to celebrate books and manuscripts that the general public is allowed only very limited access to. The building itself thus becomes a significant part of the visitor's experience. The 3,800-square-meter (40,900-square-foot) new building offers an intimate entrance on its uphill side, facing the National Schiller Museum, while on its downhill side it invites visitors across an open terrace overlooking the valley.
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