Architect on the Museum of Modernism: "The costs have by no means tripled"

Originally 180 million euros were provided, then 200 million euros - now approved by the Budget Committee of the Bundestag construction costs of 364.2 million euros for the planned Museum of Modern Art in Berlin. The total sum of the project is even higher, at around 450 million euros.

In a statement available to SPIEGEL, the architect of the project, Pierre de Meuron, defends the amount of the costs. These would not have tripled, because the original amounts would have referred only to a project study without concrete building planning. Only after the design of de Meuron and his partner Jacques Herzog had won the competition, was it possible to seriously approach the planning of the construction and make a reliable cost calculation.

The price increase has several reasons. Thus, the index increases have been particularly high in Berlin in recent years. Due to a reduction in the floor plan and building volume, more basement areas became necessary. The gross floor area had to be increased in order to realize the same usable area. In addition, the project challenges by particularly demanding structural aspects.

De Meuron defends in the statement also the costs for the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. It is untrue that the price of the building has increased eleven times. The originally planned 77 million euros were a rough estimate, which had referred only to an originally planned concert hall. In the 40 years of their work de Meuron and Herzog would have completed the vast majority of the projects in the budget: "Otherwise our office would not exist anymore."