Library for the Arp Museum

Thomas Huber designed the public museum library of the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck. The artist, who was born in 1955 in Zurich, designed the furniture and created three paintings for the library. The furniture and the pictures refer to the link between art and nature which characterise Hans Arp's poems. Two paintings hang above the shelves. The third painting is displayed in front of the entrance area to the library.

The artist followed the entire planning and execution of the library closely. He designed all the furniture: tables, bookshelves and cupboards. He paid great attention to even the smallest details.

The furniture was made of spruce after the drawings by Thomas Huber. He considered the texture of the material to be very important: "I selected wood without branches which displays a smooth but clear wood grain. The surfaces were not treated so that the wood will darken with time." The detailed nature of the artistic concept can also be clearly seen in the reading tables. These have been covered with dark linoleum. As a result the surface of the tables feels pleasantly warm to the touch. The lights, chairs and carpets were also chosen by the artist.

Thomas Huber was born in Zurich in 1955. He was a master pupil of Fritz Schwegler at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf and was also Professor at the Braunschweig University of Arts from 1992 – 1999. He has received a number of awards, including the Prize for Young Swiss Art presented by the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft in1993 and the Meret Oppenheim Prize, Bern, in 2013. Thomas Huber lives and works in Berlin.