SPAN wins competition for a new Brancusi Museum in Paris

PARIS, France – June 3, 2008 – A jury of five members today announced that SPAN (Matias del Campo & Sandra Manninger), Vienna, has won the architectural competition for the design of a new Brancusi Museum in Paris, France.

Brancusis Curvilinear Presence
“Within Constantin Brancusis body of work is one specific characteristic that emerges on a regular basis: the application of constrictions as specific leitmotiv. These constrictions can be read in various ways, reaching from the definition of rhythmically repeating volumes, as in the Endless Column, or as description of curvilinear bodies, as in La Negresse Blonde and the notoriously famous Bird in Space series. These curvilinear bodies, voluptuous components and undulating elements, are seamlessly and continuously formed into beautiful waistlines, radiating in erotic tension. The design of the new Atelier Brancusi picks up the characteristics of constrictions and explores the opportunities, in terms of architectural space, provided by this technique of spatial formation.“ (SPAN)

SPAN:
­Vienna based Architecture Firm SPAN, headed by Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger, is driven by a compulsive desire to speculate about architectural opportunities in the presence of animated matter, organic entities and their underlying geometrical and mathematical presence. Their award winning architecture designs are informed by a manifold variety of sources circumfencing the scientific realm. The multiplicious inspirations are fused into projects applying the most advanced digital design tools and casted into form by computer controlled machinery. Their activities include Architecture Design, exhibitions and lectures as well as teaching in various countries and institutions, such as the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the Bauhaus Dessau and the ESARQ in Barcelona.
The jury that selected the winning design was comprised of the following members:
Ed Keller – Faculty Columbia University, New York
Carla Leitao – Aumstudio, New York, Faculty Cornell University
Joaquin Bonifazga – architect, New York
Gabrielle von Bernstorff – architect, Vevey, Switzerland
Dan Coma – ICARCH Gallery, Chicago, Competition Organizer.
This competition was organized by the ICARCH Gallery, Evanston, Chicago, IL:
ICARCH Gallery – 709 Washington Street, Evanston, Chicago, 60202, USA.