An Incubator for Cooperation Across the Disciplines

By Henry Petroski

At the Oskar von Miller Forum in Munich, the future of architecture, engineering, and design is emerging organically.

This Article From Issue

September-October 2015

Volume 103, Number 5

Page 318

DOI: 10.1511/2015.116.318

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Oskar von Miller was a German electrical engineer who, beginning in the late 19th century, played a leading role in electrifying his native country. He is equally well known for proposing the establishment of a museum that would preserve technological artifacts and teach visitors principles of science. He expressed his idea for such an institution at a 1903 meeting of German engineers; in 1925, after years of temporary exhibits, the Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik (German Museum for Masterpieces of Natural Science and Technology) opened on Museum Island in the Isar River, which runs through Munich. The Deutsches Museum has provided a model for science and technology museums worldwide and remains the world’s largest.

Main facade of the Oskar von Miller Forum displays geometric treatments that both produce a dynamic appearance and contribute to the building’s efficiency. This stack of photovoltaic panels shields the stairwell behind it from the sun’s heat while allowing natural light to illuminate the interior.

Photograph by Verena Herzog, courtesy of Thomas Herzog Architekten.

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