New courtyard of the James Simon Gallery

The James Simon Gallery forms the new reception building of the Museum Island Berlin. Between its structure and the Neues Museum, an elongated open space is being created that will be bordered by colonnades analogous to the courtyard of the Alte Nationalgalerie. The New Courtyard is the arrival and orientation point of the Museum Island, it serves as a distributor to the respective museums and not least as a place for visitors to stay.
In the northern part of the courtyard there is a 27-metre-long granite plinth. Its surface is wetted by a fine film of water on which the surrounding museums and the sky are reflected. At the same time, the calm flow of the water changes the atmosphere: it forms a point of attraction for young and old.
The New Courtyard is paved throughout with the original surfacing material of the Museum Island - Striegau granite. The division of its paved surfaces into large-format slabs and small stone pavers takes up another motif of the old colonnade courtyard and thus underlines the design connection between the two open spaces.
The dimensions and ornamentation of the paved surfaces here are derived from the rhythm of the filigree colonnade columns. Each granite slab is unique.