Behind the Cathedral in Koln the land drops away down to the Rhine.  Pedestrians walk through Heinrich-Böll-Platz and down a series of steps before reaching the river.  It is on this hillside that the Ludwig Museum sits. 


The modern building was once also home to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum until it was decided in 1994 to separate the two institutions and hand this building over to the exclusive use of the Museum Ludwig.

The Museum Ludwig's website points out that the museum occupies, "An area of 260,000 cubic metres of space - half the volume of Cologne Cathedral."  Despite its rather vast space, the museum says that it avoids appearing oppressive because of,  "the neatly arranged and carefully structured shape of the complex, exemplified in the zinc-clad shed roofs. The grey covering material extends a long way down the supporting walls, giving the building its distinctive overall appearance. The facades have a brick finish consisting of vertical rows that enliven the surface structure. Another reason for the lack of oppressiveness is that the architects placed below ground those parts of the complex that do not require daylight. These include the mechanical service rooms, the parking spaces and the concert hall."

The saw-tooth roof arrangement was designed to provide evenly distributed northern light into the galleries which is augmented  by artificial light.