The Whole Estate a Garden – House of the Princess

Background

The House of the Princess, also known as the “Grey House,” is the planned exhibition center of the Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation and is currently undergoing extensive modernization measures. Built in 1789/90 in neo-Gothic style, the building was once the retreat and private residence of Princess Louise Henriette Wilhelmine (1750-1811), the wife of Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau. The so-called Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz, with its English-style landscaping, spacious parks and buildings, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000 and is now also a subject of the planned permanent exhibition, which invites visitors to discover and explore this unique landscape.

The focus of the exhibition, however, is on Princess Louise and her impressive art collection, which not only provides information about her accomplished understanding of art, but also bears witness to her humanistic education and connoisseurship of Enlightenment discourses of her time. Numerous exhibits, such as written correspondence with influential friends and artists as well as the collected works of art itself document her rich intellectual and social life. She was friends with artist Angelika Kauffmann, who even portrayed her. The exhibition also shows high-quality facsimiles of important architecture and works of art from the cosmos of Prince Franz and his cultural circle, which also included Johann Joachim Winckelmann and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Intended for the entire year after the opening of the house and the winter months, which are not reserved for special exhibitions, the exhibition design conceived by gewerkdesign is based on the principles of the greatest possible flexibility and mobility while maintaining an adequate standard of exhibit presentation.
In addition to a simple guidance system, compact exhibition furniture, slide boxes and trolleys for exhibits were developed, which guarantee a smooth dismantling of the exhibition and at the same time function as depot architectures, which allow storage according to highest conservation requirements. The graphic, material and color concept pick up on the color schemes of the house from the construction period and reflect the feudal style of the princesses’ domicile in a contemporary staging. A web-based app, that also features an audio guide, explains the exhibition content optionally in a child-friendly format as well as for adults and provides further information in German and English. The app was developed by gewerkdesign in collaboration with the Berlin design agency Kulturbanause.

Portfolio / Range of Services:

Exhibition design and planning, exhibition graphics, media graphics, production of exhibition production, exhibition booklet, concept development for the display, implementation planning, app development, general contractor