German Language Forum

Located in Mannheim, between the Market Square and the Neckar River, the Forum is part of a planned cultural hub that includes a youth theatre and revitalized river front. Wrapped in an operable glass facade, the German Language Forum opens itself to the city and invites the public to learn about the German language and participate in ongoing linguistic research. Designed as a series of flexible platforms supported by rammed-earth cores, the building’s lower levels are an open space for public conversation—the forum the building is named for—and contain recording stations where visitors can contribute, or “make deposits”, to a growing database of spoken German.

The Forum’s permanent exhibition is contained in a floating cube at the heart of the building. Surrounded by open and transparent communication spaces, the museum’s enclosed volume is dedicated to the history and evolution of the German language. It will trace the different stages of language development over the course of a lifetime and explore how people live in and with language. Clad in wooden louvres, the space can be adapted to different exhibition requirements, from full sunlight to total darkness.

The upper stories contain research offices for the IDS, as well as an outdoor terrace and cafe. The Forum’s scaffold-like circulation fills the space between the wooden museum volume and the glass facade. The stairway hugs the periphery of the building and leads visitors on a continuous loop through the Forum’s diverse spaces, offering views out into the city and back into the museum. HENN’s design is a dialogue between the warm and tactile materials of its interior, rammed-earth and wood, and its high-performance facade of glass and steel. The building, like language, is an opportunity for connection and communication.