Mohammad Dalai

Arata Isozaki
Domus
Museum of Mankind
La Coruña, Spain
La Coruña, a seaport in the Galician region of north western Spain, is known for its fierce ocean wind and the rough waves it creates. Domus, Museum of Mankind, is situated overlooking Orzán Bay near the lighthouse of Hercules; a tower erected by the Romans.

Photo: arcspace

To place a single building on the site, an almost vertical cliff which drops into the sea, called for a simple form that would surpass the scale of the residential backdrop and make a clear impression from far away in scale with the Lighthouse.

Photo: arcspace

The rear facade was designed in the image of a Japanese folding screen. The screen elements have an average height of 11 meters in response to the scale of the surrounding residential area.

Photo: arcspace

The granite panels, backed by concrete, are constructed directly on the rock.

Photo: arcspace

The 94 meter long, 17 meters high curved barrier wall, covered with green slate panels, consists of a series of 2.6 meter precast-concrete units. Using only rock from the Galician region throughout the project Isozaki achieved a sense of lightness not normally associated with stone.

Photo: arcspace

The roof, supported by metal trusses resting perpendicularly on the two walls of totally different character, opens up into a sliding skylight for overhead lighting. The interior concrete wall surfaces are left exposed.

Photo: arcspace

From the Promenade along the shore visitors to the museum ascend a grand stairway, with scenic terraces inserted as rest places, to the entry level 10 meters above the Promenade.

Photo: arcspace

Inside the open-plan exhibition space adapts to the topography by means of a series of ramps linking the three levels of museum space in a linear progression. The events hall is situated above the entrance from the Promenade taking advantage of the section generated by the difference in level. Administration and study areas are situated on the top floor, beneath the skylight which extends around the perimeter.

Photo: arcspace

The exhibition space, from floors to handrails, is faced in slate.

Photo: arcspace

The Museum restaurant, below the exhibition area, has its own entrance.

Here the dialogue with the topography of the cliff is taken to its limits with the rock giving the restaurant a cave like atmosphere.

Photo: arcspace

The wall facing the sea is expanded with a glazed balcony "glass gallery"; a traditional feature of the northern coast of Spain.

Drawing courtesy Arata Isozaki
Site Plan

Drawing courtesy Arata Isozaki
Entry Level Plan

Drawing courtesy Arata Isozaki
Elevation

A zipped image folder will be available to arcspace Members in the near future.

Architec

ts: Arata Isozaki, César Portela

Collab

orators:
Toshiaki Tange, Mashato Hori, Naoki Ogawa, Igor Peraza, Frederico Garrido, Amparo Casares, José Luís Gahona, Paulino Sánchez, José A. Suarez

Engineer: Julio Martínez Calzón
Collaborator: Antonio Reboreda

Architectural technicians: José A. Suarez, Pablo Reboredo
Promoter: Concello da Coruña
Constructor: Cubiertas y MZOV, S.A.

Start of construction: 1993
Completion: 1995

Nearing completion
Moshe Safdie and Associates
Peabody Essex Museum
Salem, Massachusetts
"In his design, Moshe Safdie creates contemporary structures that blend harmoniously with their urban context as well as with the Museum's historic buildings, creating a continuum between our past and our future."
Dan Monroe
Executive Director

Image courtesy Peabody Essex Museum

The new addition to the Peabody Essex Museum is scheduled for completion in June 2003. The addition will expand, reconfigure, and transform the 203 year old institution, providing more than 250,000 square feet of new and renovated facilities while creating a striking new wing and adding an important historic house from China to its world renowned collection of architecture.
From the exterior the new wing reads as five separate buildings, each building evoking the scale and different forms of traditional New England architecture.

The expansion and renovation will unify and integrate the Museum's extensive campus of 24 historic properties and gardens while creating a 111,000-square-foot new wing as well as a new urban park and landscaped outdoor public spaces.

Image courtesy Peabody Essex Museum

The new wing creates a dramatic public space at the heart of the Peabody Essex Museum campus with a soaring glass roof over a courtyard piazza that will serve as a central gathering place, in the tradition of a New England village green. Walkways radiate from the open space, leading into both new and renovated galleries, and to the new education and public performance centers.
The first floor of the new wing, adjacent too the courtyard, will show installations drawn from the Museum's collections. The second level of the new wing, with 15,000 square feet for changing exhibitions,. will be one of the largest museum spaces in New England.

Image courtesy Moshe Safdie and Associates

The entrance to a striking new wing leads to a pedestrian "street" within the museum.
Windows along the walkways reveal city vistas or views into galleries, enabling visitors to easily find their way through the Museum. Carefully selected exterior architectural details tie the new Museum to its collection of historic houses as well as to the surrounding city.

Image courtesy Peabody Essex Museum

Gallery interiors will be filled with light from skylights that allow natural illumination of both first and second floor galleries. A 7,000 square foot education center for adults and children will use workshop and studio spaces, as well as interactive technology, to explore connections between art, architecture, and the natural world. A nearby 190-seat auditorium and performance space will greatly expand the range of public programming, lectures, films, music, and dance that the Peabody Essex Museum offers.

Sketch courtesy Moshe Safdie and Associates

Drawing courtesy Moshe Safdie and Associates
First Floor Plan

Drawing courtesy Moshe Safdie and Associates
Section

An important part of the new Peabody Essex Museum is the creation of the beautiful outdoor spaces designed by acclaimed landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh whose 1994 restoration of Harvard Yard received an Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The spaces created in concert with the new Museum include the completed Armory Park, a commemorative space with a historic timeline chronicling the birth and development of the citizen soldier in America. Across the street, a new pedestrian esplanade with trees and plantings imported from China and Japan will provide a new complement to the Museum's Asian Garden. The tree-lined parkway, which leads visitors from downtown Salem to the city's historic waterfront, will also serve as a gathering place and promenade, featuring open spaces for public performances and events.

The Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum was founded in 1799, just 16 years after the birth of the nation, when entrepreneurs from Salem came to understand that to thrive in a new global economy, they needed to understand and appreciate other peoples and cultures. In that spirit, they founded the first American museum to collect the art of Asia and the Pacific, acquiring collections it would be impossible to duplicate today.

Moshe Safdie was selected following an international search and competition because of his widely recognized ability to create stunning contemporary buildings that blend into historic contexts. Safdie has won critical and public acclaim for his designs, among them the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Vancouver Public Library, the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and the Exploration Place Science Center and Children's Museum in Wichita, Kansas. Last year, he was awarded the prestigious commission to design the new United States Institute of Peace Headquarters, across from the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

Competion winners
schmidt

hammer lassen K/S

Århus Art Museum
Århus, Denmark
Archit

ects schmidt hammer lassen won the international competition for the design of the Århus Art Museum in 1997.

Image courtesy Schmidt, Hammer Lassen

Image courtesy Schmidt, Hammer Lassen
Night View

The new Museum, situated in an area with several prominent public buildings, will appear as a single, massive tile clad cube, partly embedded in the sloping site.

Image courtesy Schmidt, Hammer Lassen

The sharp edged cube is cut vertically by a 'Museum Street,' a glass covered curved section. The vertical cut corresponds to a horizontal cut in the east facade, creating a dynamic flow and interaction between the interior and the surrounding city and park. The context is further enhanced by long ramps connecting the museum to its surroundings.

Image courtesy Schmidt, Hammer Lassen

Image courtesy Schmidt, Hammer Lassen
The Library

Balconies and ramps in the sky lit 'Museum Street' will connect the functions in the 10 story building. The exhibition galleries are situated on one side of the 'Museum Street,' with administration, lecture rooms, library, and shop on the other. A café, terrace, and sculpture garden will overlook the city from the roof top.

Drawing courtesy Schmidt, Hammer Lassen

Visit The Image Library to download higher quality images.
Visit the Architects Studio to view sketches.

Area: 17,146 square meters

Construction start: September 2000
Completion expected: 2003.

Client: Århus Kunstmuseum (Municipality of Århus)

Architect: Schmidt, Hammer Lassen K/S
Landscape Architects: Schmidt, Hammer Lassen K/S
Architect: Schmidt, Hammer Lassen K/S
Engineer: NIRAS

Schmidt, Hammer Lassen K/S arcspace features

Skyscr

aper Museum

New York, New York

The Skyscraper Museum opened the doors to its new permanent home in lower Manhattan on April 2, 2004.

Photo: © Grant Peterson, 2004

"Lower Manhattan is the birthplace of the skyscraper. The skyline of lower Manhattan from New York Harbor was the image of New York for much of the 20th century. … Lower Manhattan is the most appropriate and the most poignant place to tell the story."
Carol Willis
Founder and Director

The 5,800-square-foot, ground floor gallery is walking distance from the World Trade Center site and the fallen twin towers that were at one time the tallest buildings in the world.

Photo: © Grant Peterson, 2004

The gallery space itself was designed to look modern, and uses a visual trick to expand the look of the place. The ceiling and floor are made of a highly polished stainless steel, which reflect each other and make the gallery seem that much taller.

Photo: © Grant Peterson, 2004

The opening exhibition, "Building a Collection", includes photos, drawings, models, books and other items to showcase the construction and history of skyscrapers.

One wall has drawings of current and planned buildings, to show the future of the tall buildings. They include images of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Taipei 101, the world's tallest skyscraper at 1,676 feet, and plans for the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower to be built at the reconstructed World Trade Center site.

This summer, the museum will host an exhibit on the World Trade Center, featuring an original model of the site, and in October, a show focusing on the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Lead designer: Roger Duffy

SOM provided its services pro bono.

Website: Skyscraper Museum

wHY Arch

itecture

Grand Rapids Art Museum
Grand Rapids, Michigan
GRAM i

s the first art museum in the world to receive a LEED certified status.

"The design for Grand Rapids Art Museum attempts to synergize the differences; the building is monumental in its civic symbol, yet intimate and warm in experience. it is earth friendly and art focus. it aims to make people feel most comfortable, yet trigger them to see and to think.”
Kulapat Yantrasast