House for Music
Raimund Abraham

June 18, 2012 /

Museum Insel Hombroich, Rhein Country Neuss, Germany

 Photo: Thomas Mayer

This 20 acre former NATO missile base is now a nature area and country park for artists, poets, composers and scientists who live and work on the site. The House for Music is a building dedicated to musicians.

The Stiftung (Foundation) Insel Hombroich is the owner of both, the Museum Insel Hombroich and the Raketenstation Hombroich.

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Raimund Abraham wanted the building to reflect all the external forces of nature and to shield the interior from the exterior. In order to achieve a monolithic and sculptural character he used concrete as building material.

Photo: Thomas Mayer

The entrance towards the east leads to the courtyard where a circular, inclined concrete slab, 33 meters in diameter, seems to float above the building. At the center of the concrete slab is a recess in the form of an equilateral triangle, with side lengths of 17 meters.

 Photo: Thomas Mayer

 Photo: Thomas Mayer

The summit of the inner triangular in the roof points directly to the watchtower of the earlier military base.

 Photo: Thomas Mayer

 Photo: Thomas Mayer

Two stair towers at the corner of the triangle provides access to four apartments for musicians, a recording studio and practice rooms, arranged in a circle under the concrete roof.

 Photo: Thomas Mayer

 Photo: Thomas Mayer

Under the fictitious center of the triangle is a round glass covered skylight that provides light to a 5 x 5 meter underground performance space.

 Photo: Thomas Mayer

The idea for Museum Insel Hombroich, based on a combination of art, architecture and nature, came from real estate broker and art collector Karl-Heinrich Müller.

The Langen Foundation on the site, designed by Tadao Ando, is a private foundation that does not belong to the Stiftung Insel Hombroich.

 Photo: arcspace

The House for Music was presented at the Biannual International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 1996. However, it was to be 10 years before construction started. Currently considered a completed shell completion is planned for 2013.

Raimund Abraham was killed in a car crash in downtown Los Angeles in 2010 after lecturing at SCI-Arc. The House for Music was his last building.