The new exhibition halls 9-12 are characterized by power and restraint. The two brothers Bernhard and Stefan Marte make a statement with their enormous emblematic structure; four exhibition halls are combined into one gigantic, monolithic building measuring 170-m-long, nearly 70-m-wide, and 16.5-m-high in unified black. The large structure is divided into four segments and covering the exterior of the building are thin black stripes, with access to the interior found through elliptical incisions, courtyards, and foyers in deep, rich carmine.
The backbone of the building is the interior circulation axis; floor-to-ceiling glazed openings guide visitors from the main entrance through the series of exhibition halls alternating in red and black. As impressive as the elliptical, hyperbolic incisions in the two long sides of the building are, the colour scheme of the giant is just as powerful and vivid. Both colours are represented equally, like heraldic tinctures – pure colours without shading, gradients, and nuances reminiscent of flags and banners.
The dimensions and the power of the exhibition halls are impressive. Black in black. Function in construction. The inviting, spectacular foyer between the two exhibition halls is painted entirely in red, and the horizontal ellipsoid at the entrance is mirrored in the five elliptical arches of the load-bearing concrete slab forming arcades.
The large entrance hall #12 as well as the restrooms and staircases are painted in deep, rich carmine.