Redesign of the Handel House using HI-MACS®. The Baroque enters the 21st century
News Infurma17/06/2013
The legendary composer Georg Friedrich Handel now has a permanent exhibition dedicated to his musical legacy in his birth town of Halle an der Saale. This was recently refurbished by the Berlin based architects Gerhards&Gluecker, who choose the new generation solid surface material HI-MACS® in Arctic White to add both gravitas and panache to the project. 
If one attempts to display the work of a composer like Georg Friedrich Handel one must first answer a question - what intangible material will represent the music? "We want the immateriality of music to respond in physical reality with the immateriality of light and shadow", say the architects. Light and shadow play an important role in the architecture of the Baroque period: the stylish plasticity of this era lives through this interplay. 
The exhibition architecture focuses on the typology and atmosphere of the Baroque house – transported to the here and now. The museum design is sensitive to the small-scale structure of the House and enters into a creative dialogue with it. The dominant stylistic device of the Baroque, the play of light and shadow, has been reinterpreted through the use of the HI-MACS ® solid-surface material. The themed room "Under the Arcadian Sun" is exemplary of this skilful implementation. Handel’s four-year sojourn in Italy and the intimate pieces of chamber music that he wrote during this period are here symbolised through a delicate arch construction made of HI-MACS®. A floral pattern, whose precise perforation appears to be playful, has been milled in acrylic stone by the manufacturer Möbel Damm, trained by Klöpfer Surfaces, the distribution partner of HI-MACS®. This ‘curved pergola’, as it is referred to by the architects, stands detached from the walls in the room, so that it casts shadows and contains interactive items documenting the life of the artist. 
The interpretation of Baroque ornamentation in the architectural language of the 21st century allows itself to be skilfully realised through the selection of the modern material. Because HI-MACS® uses its universal properties - such as optical seamless processing, thermoforming, simple processing, robustness coupled with a warm feel and, last but not least, the clean and simple milling – to enable a new interpretation of Baroque aesthetics. Instead of the usual chronological layout, thematic focal points also integrate the other exhibition rooms and provide visitors with an exciting approach to the life of the composer. In order to guide the main focus onto the exhibits visually, the architects superimpose only the colour HI-MACS® Arctic white and have all fittings and presentational elements made of the solid-surface material. They create such spaces, where classic presentational elements such as frames, pedestals, tables, show-cases and display cabinets are combined with interactive elements to create complex and harmonious spatial images. 
Only the exhibition room which focuses on Handel's time in London deviates from the concept. Here the walls and floor are a light gray and original wood furnishings decorate the room. This conscious contrast calls attention to Handel as a composer and entrepreneur, master of the English oratorio and citizen of the world. The harpsichord on display stands raised atop a white pedestal made of HI-MACS®. 
Their concept of an outstanding architectural design for exhibitions has brought success to the architects, as evidenced by the multiple awards for work, including famous prizes such as the iF communication design award (2010), best architects (2011), DDC Gute Gestaltung [DDC Good Design] (2011) and the nomination for the German Design Award (2012). INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT Location: Halle an der Saale, Germany Design: Gerhards & Gluecker, Berlin Fabrication: Möbel Damm - Klöpfer Surfaces Material: HI-MACS® Arctic White (S06); www.himacs.eu Photo credits: ©Werner Huthmacher Source: HI-MACS® Read more news related HI-MACS® publisehd at Infurma Visit the HI-MACS® website
If one attempts to display the work of a composer like Georg Friedrich Handel one must first answer a question - what intangible material will represent the music? "We want the immateriality of music to respond in physical reality with the immateriality of light and shadow", say the architects. Light and shadow play an important role in the architecture of the Baroque period: the stylish plasticity of this era lives through this interplay. 
The exhibition architecture focuses on the typology and atmosphere of the Baroque house – transported to the here and now. The museum design is sensitive to the small-scale structure of the House and enters into a creative dialogue with it. The dominant stylistic device of the Baroque, the play of light and shadow, has been reinterpreted through the use of the HI-MACS ® solid-surface material. The themed room "Under the Arcadian Sun" is exemplary of this skilful implementation. Handel’s four-year sojourn in Italy and the intimate pieces of chamber music that he wrote during this period are here symbolised through a delicate arch construction made of HI-MACS®. A floral pattern, whose precise perforation appears to be playful, has been milled in acrylic stone by the manufacturer Möbel Damm, trained by Klöpfer Surfaces, the distribution partner of HI-MACS®. This ‘curved pergola’, as it is referred to by the architects, stands detached from the walls in the room, so that it casts shadows and contains interactive items documenting the life of the artist. 
The interpretation of Baroque ornamentation in the architectural language of the 21st century allows itself to be skilfully realised through the selection of the modern material. Because HI-MACS® uses its universal properties - such as optical seamless processing, thermoforming, simple processing, robustness coupled with a warm feel and, last but not least, the clean and simple milling – to enable a new interpretation of Baroque aesthetics. Instead of the usual chronological layout, thematic focal points also integrate the other exhibition rooms and provide visitors with an exciting approach to the life of the composer. In order to guide the main focus onto the exhibits visually, the architects superimpose only the colour HI-MACS® Arctic white and have all fittings and presentational elements made of the solid-surface material. They create such spaces, where classic presentational elements such as frames, pedestals, tables, show-cases and display cabinets are combined with interactive elements to create complex and harmonious spatial images. 
Only the exhibition room which focuses on Handel's time in London deviates from the concept. Here the walls and floor are a light gray and original wood furnishings decorate the room. This conscious contrast calls attention to Handel as a composer and entrepreneur, master of the English oratorio and citizen of the world. The harpsichord on display stands raised atop a white pedestal made of HI-MACS®. 
Their concept of an outstanding architectural design for exhibitions has brought success to the architects, as evidenced by the multiple awards for work, including famous prizes such as the iF communication design award (2010), best architects (2011), DDC Gute Gestaltung [DDC Good Design] (2011) and the nomination for the German Design Award (2012). INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT Location: Halle an der Saale, Germany Design: Gerhards & Gluecker, Berlin Fabrication: Möbel Damm - Klöpfer Surfaces Material: HI-MACS® Arctic White (S06); www.himacs.eu Photo credits: ©Werner Huthmacher Source: HI-MACS® Read more news related HI-MACS® publisehd at Infurma Visit the HI-MACS® websiteNews Infurma:
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