Staggered volumes with angled roofs will make up Muzej Lah, a contemporary art museum that British studio David Chipperfield Architects is designing beside Lake Bled in Slovenia.
Set to open in summer 2026, the 5,000-square-metre museum is being built to showcase the art collection of Swiss non-profit organisation Fundacija Lah for the first time.
David Chipperfield Architects said that Muzej Lah’s design draws on “the location of the museum in the beautiful landscape near Bled Castle”.
This includes its staggered arrangement and sloped roof profiles, which nod to the site’s rolling topography.
“The various volumes of the building are unified by a series of sloping tiled roofs that tie the museum into its hillside setting,” said studio founder David Chipperfield.
“The building is defined by a series of rooms, courtyards and terraces that both create an ideal setting for the collection and give the visitor a strong sense of the surrounding landscape,” he continued.
“We look forward to the museum becoming an important cultural amenity for the region and yet another reason for people to visit this beautiful town.”
Muzej Lah has been commissioned by Slovenian philanthropists Igor and Mojca Lah, the founders of Fundacija Lah.
Once complete, it will showcase more than 800 works by both international and Slovenian artists, dating from 1945 to the present day.
While nodding to the landscape, David Chipperfield Architects’ design is also dictated by “the size and specifications of the artworks in the collection”, it said.
The stepped roofscape helps maximise northern light within the galleries, while the staggered arrangement is hoped to create optimal circulation routes.
Visuals of the museum’s interior are yet to be revealed, but the studio has it will include a library and research centre alongside its flexible gallery spaces.
There will also be restaurant and retail spaces, and a series of external spaces “integrated into the form”. Among the external spaces will be a sculpture garden at the building’s rear.
David Chipperfield Architects was founded by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Chipperfield in 1985. Today it has offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai.
Elsewhere, it is designing a rammed-earth extension for a museum in Athens and a housing development in Antwerp that will adjoin a 60-tree fruit orchard.
The renders are by David Chipperfield Architects unless otherwise stated.
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