Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace shines with luminaires from FLASHAAR®
In the heart of Berlin there is a palace again: the reconstruction of the old city palace. The Humboldt Forum is hidden behind the reconstructed baroque façades. A modern universal museum that invites you to discover the cultures of the world. Together with the neighbouring Museum Island, it forms one of the largest contiguous museum complexes in Europe.
From 23 September 2021, the first collection presentations of the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art of the National Museums in Berlin will be able to be experienced – staged with luminaires from FLASHAAR®.
In total, over 1.1 km of linear LED lines from the Bingen-based company illuminate the collections as well as other areas of the palace. The light lines support the architecture with their lighting effect without putting themselves in the foreground. The lighting concept for the Humboldt Forum comes primarily from the well-known lighting design office Lichtvision Design GmbH from Berlin.
In the impressive domed room of the Asian Museum, 70 m of light lines bring out the grandeur of the space. The NauticProfil® luminaires integrated into the surrounding cove illuminate the ceiling with neutral white light and create a pleasantly diffuse room light. The huge white dome serves as an exhibition space for projections. Beneath it, visitors can find the centuries-old “Cave of the 16 Swordsmen” from Kizil, one of the major highlights of the exhibition area.
The intangible cultural asset is presented in a specially created, highly technological space – the listening room. The ethnological museum’s exhibition explores the music and sound of numerous cultures and offers visitors the opportunity to experience the world with their ears. The textile walls backlit with FLASHAAR light lines create a soft background for this.
In the Oceania exhibition of the Ethnological Museum (boat cube), ten special luminaires stage the coral showcase and create a unique underwater effect. It addresses coral bleaching and thus coral mortality, as well as climate change.
The palace cellar contains the oldest objects relating to the history of the village. An underlit walkway leads visitors through the exhibition in the only preserved area of the Berlin Palace. More than 220 metres of NauticProfil luminaires were installed underneath the jetty, making it stand out from the dark background. This also enables visually impaired people to walk safely; creates orientation and safety and at the same time provides a floating effect.
In the Sculpture Hall of the Museum of Byzantine Art, the original sandstone figures of the palace façades can be viewed up close. Here, too, the lighting designers’ aim was to show off the grandeur of the room and its exhibits to their best advantage. The FLASHAAR luminaires integrated into the cove provide a soft background light. This is supplemented by spotlights with directional light that illuminates the sculptures.
Large-format light coves, also equipped with NauticProfil® luminaires, characterise the appearance of the Humboldt Academy and thus help it to achieve a recognition effect. The academy is an educational space where flexibility of use was important in the planning. The main focuses of the academy are the temporary exhibitions and the permanent exhibitions on the history of the place.