When the Museum Reinhard Ernst in Wiesbaden opens in autumn 2022 after around three years of construction, its visitors should feel as comfortable as possible as soon as they enter.

Not only because they are viewing paintings and sculptures of abstract art from the Reinhard Ernst Collection, which will then be on display over four floors and around 2000 square meters of exhibition space.

But also because everyone who enters the house should feel like a guest who stays in it as long as they like and settles down in many places to let the works and architecture have an effect on them.

Catherine Deschka

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The founding director of the hotel, Oliver Kornhoff, gets enthusiastic about the aspect of the planned “welcome culture”.

"For us, the museum is one of the few sanction-free spaces," he says.

Everyone is free to enter the building, which is why the ground floor of the museum is largely designed as an open space where no entrance fee has to be paid, with a shop, café, creative space and seating.

Everyone can enjoy this meditative place with the twelve meter high atrium in the middle, in which a maple tree will stand.

"I'm allowed to be there - with tired feet as well as with art expertise," Kornhoff describes the forum, in which one can simply take shelter when it rains.

Design by Fumihiko Maki

The glass front of the house opens up as an extension of the promenade towards Wilhelmstrasse, says Kornhoff, formulating the idea of ​​the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, who designed the house.

Kornhoff, who has been in office since December 2021, had no influence on the architecture as museum director.

But on filling the house with life, he says.

That's why he came to Wiesbaden from Remagen, where he had been in charge of the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck since 2009.

"We all deliberately moved here," he says about himself and the soon-to-be-eleven employees: "Right from the start, we help design a museum the way we dreamed of it." His euphoria cannot be overlooked.

He smiles a lot while guiding about the construction site.

His enthusiasm is quite understandable.

Because in the 9,000 square meter house, which cost 60 million euros, the builder and founder Reinhard Ernst considered every conceivable detail of his museum, discussed it with the architect and adapted it to the needs.

There is a room into which a truck with the works of art can drive in order to unload the exhibits into an air-conditioned room.

There are exhibition rooms whose dimensions refer to the large-format paintings or the sculptures, which are up to 23 meters long, works such as "Formation Stream" by Toshimitsu Imai or the more than six meter high sculpture "Pair" by Tony Cragg.

There is sophisticated technology in all rooms.

A flexible bar has been thought of for gastronomy, plus there are separate entrances for artists, catering in the rentable event hall and a storage room for stacking chairs.

To do this, Ernst asked around in museums all over the world and asked what was needed and what was usually missing.

And made it better at his house.