ON BUILDING

Photo: Moritz Bernoully

On Building – the new permanent exhibition of the DAM

from August 15, 2026

The permanent exhibition of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) will reopen in 2026 following a fundamental restructuring. The starting point for the redesign is a deliberate reduction: several of the existing model dioramas have been removed according to scholarly and curatorial criteria in order to create space for new forms of interpretation and engagement. In the rear section of the House-in-House facing the Schaumainkai, an open museum education area is being created to address current needs for exchange, work, and learning in the museum.

The new permanent exhibition will be divided into two sections: eleven dioramas representing ten examples of the built environment will trace the history of human settlement from prehistory and early history through to the 1980s. They will be complemented by a retrospective look at selected DAM exhibitions that explore architectural discourses that were—and remain—relevant.
The second section, a long presentation wall, adopts a more open, object-centred approach to storytelling. Drawing on more than 40 objects from the collection and from exhibitions spanning over 400 DAM exhibitions, it presents architectural history as an ongoing and negotiable process.

PUBLIC TOURS:
From August 15 until September 27, 2026 every Saturday and Sunday, 1. p.m.