PANEUM: The wonder of bread – What do you know about it?

On our way to Vienna we passed by an interesting building and were wondering what it could be. Lucky us while taking some pictures an employee came by and asked if we were interested in the building which houses a brand new museum. Although it was already closed, he invited us to a private tour. 

During the tour it turned out that the (we thought) employee was Mr. Augendopler, owner of backaldrin, a world leader in bread mix production and the building designed by world famous architect Wolf D. Prix from Coop Himmelblau houses Mr. Augendopler’s very personal collection – about bread! It all started with a small porcelain figure from Meissen back in the late 1980s. At first, the figure was alone but, gradually, it welcomed the company of hundreds of other exhibits.

“If we get people to think about bread, we have achieved everything we wanted.”, Peter Augendopler, Founder of the PANEUM

Edges and flowing lines, wood and stainless steel, tradition and innovation, light and dark: the architecture of the PANEUM comes alive through its combination of opposites and draws its dynamism and fascination from its contrasts.

What is certain is that the PANEUM is also an architectural journey of discovery and bears the signature of architect Wolf D. Prix. Already at the first meeting between the architect and Mr. Augendopler, there was a sketch of a box that would form the foundation of the building, and in which the customer information centre and event forum for up to 120 guests would be housed – everything, except the “Wunderkammer” itself. Also part of the original idea, this is accessed via a spiral, cantilevered staircase.

The spiral staircase creates an atrium, which can be used in vertical displays, not unlike a chandelier or a gigantic wind chime. Wolf D. Prix attributes Milanese artist Maurizio Cattelan, who did the same at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The staircase leads up into the freeform part of the building, which is itself a combination of opposites. It not only contrasts with the rectangular part of the building, made of concrete – the box – but also creates a fascinating distinction between the interior and the exterior of the building. While over 3,000 stainless steel shingles on the outside shine silver in the sun, the wooden structure of the building is visible on the inside. Curved lines allow the visitor – in the truest sense of the word – to circle all areas of the exhibition.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

Location: Asten near Linz, Austria
Use: Customer information centre and event forum with connected meeting and exhibition rooms
Architecture: COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, Wolf D. Prix, Vienna
Exhibition concept: GRUPPE GUT design factory, Bolzano (IT)
Start of building: August 2015
Completion: 2017
Opening: October 2017
Site area: 3750 m²
Floor area: 1850 m²
Exhibition area: 990 m²
Building height: 20 m
Volume: 9105 m³
Number of floors: 4

Thank you Mr. Augendopler for sharing your love and passion, we could have listened to you for hours and learned from you that

BREAD IS,
ABOVE ALL,
CULTURE!

To find out more about Paneum continue here and watch trailer here.

PANEUM – Wunderkammer des Brotes
Kornspitzstrasse 1, 4481 Asten, Austria
T +43 7224 8821 400

Images: paneum.at, arch. Michael Atzenhofer