Gallery Ebensperger, Berlin

Galerie Ebensperger is housed in the former chapel of a crematorium – a place of great presence, but one with a drawback for a gallery: its vertically curved side walls offer hardly any surface on which to hang art. At the same time, the tall, expansive space felt oversized for many exhibitions.

Our answer is a pentagonal pavilion, placed freely in the chapel as a room within a room. It leaves the historic shell untouched while providing what it lacks: its inner and outer walls create around 40 linear metres of new hanging space. The angled wall surfaces divide this length into individual sections, giving each work its own place and constantly opening up new sightlines.

The pavilion also transforms the space around it. It divides the large chapel into clearly defined areas – between inside and outside, between intimate cabinet and open hall. This allows exhibitions to be staged with tension and turns the tour of the gallery into a varied sequence of different spaces.