Leaky Berlin Modern Museum’s Opening Delayed Until 2030
4April 25, 2026
The construction of theBerlinModern Museum, a planned extension of the Neue Nationalgalerie, has been delayed until 2030,Monopolreports. The postponement is due to significant moisture damage found in the foundation, floors, roof coverings and exterior walls which comprise the building’s shell, as well as microbial contamination found elsewhere in the structure.
The foundation for the Berlin Modern wasoriginally laidat the Kulturforum building complex in February 2024, with the museum slated to open in 2027. Alongside these delays, the projected construction cost has ballooned from 200 million to 507 million euros.
“All available measures were taken to repair the damage as quickly as possible, and construction did not have to be halted,” a spokesperson for the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation told Monopol. Nevertheless, the damage discovered means “postponement of completion by approximately eight months into 2030.” Related METHOD ACTING: BERLIN WINTER SHOWS Jean Katambayi Mukendi’s esoteric technologies
The construction project has garnered considerable criticism since its inception in 2019, with critics sounding the alarm on the proposed design’s efficiency and structural flaws. Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron conceived the project.
In 2022, conservation experts expressed explicit concern with the building’s heavy use of concrete, noting that the museum would require an elaborate (and energy-thirsty) ventilation system to maintain internal temperature equilibrium.
“Ecologically speaking the whole thing is an absolute disaster beyond all expectations,” architecture critic Nikolaus Bernau told the Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio station. “It is completely air permeable…leading to very large streams of air, which have to be either cooled or warmed, depending on whether it’s summer or winter.”