Stopover in Germany

Museum Brandhorst
Exciting, innovative architectural use of ceramics

It houses the art collection of the

late Anette Brandhorst and her husband Udo Fritz-Hermann

donated to the state of Bavaria

The large rectangular building is clad in long multi-coloured square ceramic rods

“36,000 vertical ceramic pieces in 23 different coloured glazes” 

designed by Sauerbruch Hutton architects



~ detail of walls ~

~ 36,000 ceramic rods . . . ~







Final Installation

I went to site a few times during the installation; a visual record . . .

Upon delivery, we were told that there was R 2000 in the budget, if we wanted to install the panel . . . Intimidated by the opulence and grandeur of the house, I turned down the offer. Ultimate quote from a professional tiling company was R 20,000!

How I sell myself short!

I never questioned the offer, yet intimidated by the splendor of the project.

Needless to say, I was glad we were not doing the work on site

The pool was filled before the installation!

We have not had access to the house since the installation for final photos.



Wall Installation - ready for delivery

initially, the larger, flat surfaces in the tiles sagged a lot

to solve the problem 

small "support- coils" placed in the moulds 

half-filled with slip 

before the back of the moulds were closed

and filled 

two drainage holes to stop any suction when moulds are emptied 

tiles high fired and stacked  

counted, packed and numbered

ready for delivery and installation tomorrow morning

Wall Installation

indoor swimming pool wall

1,5 meters X 4,5 meters

three dimensional block tiles

30 X 30 cm each

± 10 cm high in parts

PROTOTYPES

5 "block tile" designs to be used

repeated and rotated

to form an intricate, "cubist" wall

  

MOULDS 

the first casts were all a disaster

some of the backs and

on others the front of the blocks collapsed


finally we managed to stop the sagging and slumping

(another post to show how we resolved the problem)

 

ready to be fettled, sponged and fired