It may not rise a single story above ground, but the newly opened addition to Frankfurt, Germany’s esteemed Städel Museum still has a monumental presence. Designed by local architecture firm Schneider+Schumacher , the 32,000-square-foot subterranean gallery makes itself known via its porthole skylights, which are arranged in a grid across a verdant knoll in the museum’s courtyard garden. Inside the space—dedicated to the institution’s impressive assemblage of postwar art—sun streams through the 195 windows, which were custom fabricated to be burglarproof, weight bearing, and gently curved (to shed water). The annex makes its most dramatic statement at night, when the glow from the interior punctuates the earth. At a time when buildings continue to grow higher and façades more exuberant, a simple scheme like this packs a powerful punch. staedelmuseum.de
