The poet Johann Hölderlin was born in this house in 1770. To mark his 250th birthday, a museum dedicated to his legacy—complete with space for local events—was envisioned here. Strebewerk's building researchers and architects handled the historical survey and initial planning phases. From phase 4 onward, Von M took the lead, enabling a truly transdisciplinary approach. This collaboration allowed Von M to execute their comprehensive design vision across renovation, new construction, and bespoke furniture. The strategy was clear: architecture as a stage—one that brings the poet and his visitors together through thoughtfully orchestrated space.

Yet the constraints were formidable: tight timelines and budgets, multiple specialist teams, and contaminated soil requiring remediation. The sloping terrain added complexity, and prehistoric settlement remains surfaced during excavation. The 13th-century monastery wall—itself a protected monument—lacked foundations and required substantial reinforcement. Working closely with heritage preservation authorities, the team painstakingly restored every layer: half-timbered framing, varied wall finishes, baroque windows. Like windows into the building's rich history, these temporal strata emerge throughout the interior. A mineral insulating plaster now shields the timber façade. Steel and concrete additions deliberately contrast with the historic fabric, creating visual clarity between old and new. A modest cast-concrete pavilion houses technical systems. The external staircase—essential to fire safety—steps down in rhythm with the building's existing projections and recesses, interlocking past and present. The single-story, multipurpose exhibition hall spills open onto the courtyard, which itself becomes an experiential landscape, anchored by a centrally planted, illuminated linden tree. The new structure's understated horizontal form reclaims views of the vineyard beyond—a sight long obscured from the courtyard.

www.vonm.de

Photography Credits:

Zooey Braun
www.zooeybraun.de

(Published in CUBE Stuttgart 04|21)