Germania. Neues Museum a Berlino (2003-2009) di David Chipperfield e St. Kolumba a Colonia (2003-2007) di Peter Zumthor

The coexistence of old and new is a cornerstone of the work of Döllgast first and of Wiedemann then and it returns in some recent works on the ruins of World War II in Germany, which take as reference the experiences of the Federal Republic. In particular, these works of restoration are expression of the material culture that seems to characterize the country in relation with the theme of ruins and their almost physical "aura", that could not be divided from its material manifestation. In the restoration of the Neues Museum there are some fixed principles: the project is first interested in the present, the point between past and future, and in the research for a dialogue with the ancient part, that go along with its construction techniques and its becoming through time. The project finds solutions step by step, making the museum congenial to the changing needs, setting a new balance in the architecture between old and new. The Museum St. Kolumba is an intervention that is grafted on a previous one, belonging to post-war period. In the project Zumthor preserves the complex stratigraphy of a place among the oldest in Cologne, giving a recognizable face to his intervention. The new becomes a stratification that is grafted on the ruins using a brick of special format design by the architect, protecting the archaeological remains of St. Kolumba, playing with light and shadow. Both works - Neues Museum and St. Kolumba - are united by a deep interest in the material culture that built the ancient architecture, in which resides the spark that triggers the design process on the existing with significant results among the works of restoration of the XXI century.