Magdeburg Centre for Industrial Culture
The present-day Magdeburg Technical Museum, with its diverse collections, technology-inspired architecture, and its location on the former grounds of the Gruson Works, holds potential that extends far beyond being a regional museum. Already in 2020, the initial feasibility study positioned it as a place where central themes such as digitization, climate change, structural transformation, and migration can be addressed through contemporary museum work. The museum should evolve into what is known as a “third place”: a public forum for exchange and discussion. This study elaborates on and advances this vision. The Magdeburg Center for Industrial Culture is intended to serve local and regional identity and engage people in various educational and cultural activities. As an open space, it should encourage visitors to engage in dialogues. The permanent exhibition’s task is not only to showcase the rich industrial heritage of the region but also to focus on the present and future by inviting partners from industry and academia to present their research, projects, and products that carry the concept of “Made in Magdeburg” into the 21st century.
Master plan for the expansion and new conception of the Magdeburg Museum of Technology into a centre for industrial culture as well as the addition of a central depot for the Magdeburg museums.
Master plan
The centre and mainstay of the concept are the technology museum and the technology park in which it is embedded. The restoration and public workshops, which are also located here, turn these into a place where objects are not only exhibited, but where people actively work on and with them. A large number of these objects are made accessible to the public in a display depot. Event formats geared to specific target groups will be developed around these focal points. The expertise of the participating museums gathered in one place will create a network node with supra-regional significance.
The brochure serves to illustrate the project and present the building studies. The Magdeburg Center for Industrial Culture consists of three different units: the Technology Museum in the historic workshop hall (Old Building), the new building housing the visible storage and workshops, and the surrounding and connecting Technology and Leisure Park.
The planned new building primarily serves the research and conservationally correct storage of collections that are not part of the permanent exhibition. The heart of the new building is the visible storage with its open restoration workshops. Visitors not only gain insights into the otherwise closed-off areas of a museum but can also actively learn, play, work, or conduct research on objects themselves. For this educational work, additional workshops are provided.