Gallery of Contemporary Art restored to its former splendor
Kärcher conducted a facade cleaning on Hamburg’s art gallery “Galerie der Gegenwart“. It was cleaned for the first time since its inauguration in 1997.
The Gallery of Contemporary Art, designed by Oswald Mathias Ungers and built between 1993 and 1996, was opened in February 1997.
Cleaning with a hot water high-pressure cleaner in steam mode was determined as the best and gentlest method for removing the pollution on the limestone.
The work on the cube was carried out by two industrial climbers with the help of Kärcher pressure washers.
Portuguese limestone, Swedish granite
The façade of Hamburg’s art gallery “Galerie der Gegenwart“ was cleaned for the first time since its inauguration in 1997. The building made of Portuguese limestone as well as the base of Swedish granite was thereby carefully freed of emission pollution and biogenic growth. The project was carried out under supervision of the historic monument preservation office as part of Kärcher’s cultural sponsoring.
In advance of the two-week cleaning project, Kärcher and the Hamburg historic monument preservation office identified and analyzed various different types of pollution on the base structure (Swedish granite) and the cube (Portuguese limestone). Next to black discolorations due to emission deposits, the pollution was comprised of biological growth such as algae, fungi, lichens and mosses as well as bird excrement.
Cleaning with a hot-water high-pressure cleaner in steam mode was determined as the best and gentlest method for removing the pollution on the limestone. The work on the cube was carried out by two industrial climbers with the help of rope access technology. At the same time, the building’s base was cleaned from the ground with hot-water high-pressure.
Cleaning without loss of substance
Because of the timely manner in which the cleaning procedure was carried out, an especially gentle method was sufficient. The cleaning procedure was surveyed by the historic monument preservation office in regards to the protection of substance, thereby creating a basis of assessment for future facade cleaning measures on the gallery.
The “Galerie der Gegenwart“ (Gallery of Contemporary Art)
The Gallery of Contemporary Art, designed by Oswald Mathias Ungers (1926 – 2007) and built between 1993 and 1996, was opened in February 1997. The cube expands the Hamburg art gallery’s exhibition space by over 60,000 square feet and allows the presentation of the international contemporary art collection ranging from the Pop Art era until today, as well as regularly occurring special exhibitions with artwork from various epochs.
Facts at a glance
Country: Germany
City: Hamburg
Material: Limestone, granite
Soiling: Emission deposits, biological growth, bird excrement
Cleaning technique: Hot water high-pressure cleaning
Execution: July 2018
