NIZIO Design International Win Competition for Museum of Contemporary Art in Wroclaw
By Bustler Editors|
Thursday, Oct 16, 2008
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The city of Wroclaw, Poland, recently announced the winning proposal of an international competition for the architectural design of a contemporary art museum building. The winning team is NIZIO Design International, represented by Miroslaw Nizio (Warsaw, Poland), in collaboration with Konrad Roslak (Nizio Design International) and Damian Cyryl Kotwicki (DCK). Second prize winner is Vicente Guallart Furio (Barcelona, Spain), third winner is Pysall.Ruge Architekten (Berlin, Germany).
Further honorable mentions were proposals by Bieniasz - Nicholson Architect (Wroclaw, Poland), M. A. I Domicz - Laboratory of Architecture (Opole, Poland), and Laboratory Architecture GÅ‚owacki - Thomas GÅ‚owacki.
The Wroclaw Contemporary Museum will house an outstanding collection and will occupy a prime location at the heart of the city’s historic Old Town. It aims to serve as an open and dynamic contemporary art ecosystem instead of as a museum in the traditional sense of the word.
Quotes from the winning design’s description:
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE FUNCTIONAL AND SPATIAL CONCEPT PROPOSAL
In its theoretical form, the design of the Contemporary Art Museum diffuses between searching for a modern form that is “appurtenant†to the site, and Wroclaw’s artistic traditions. Not insignificant role in the design was played by the fields of meaning of Wroclaw-based theoreticians active at the turn of the 1960s-1970s, e.g. “the art of shadow â€, „the architecture of matterâ€, or „the light and space relationshipâ€. Based on these nomenclatures, the primary form of the museum’s syntax is the square that synchronizes the slightly „abstract†solid geometry. This formally minimized shape ensues from the accurate layout of the building’s internal functional space to suit the purposes of the permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, and enriching the museum’s collections. The square ideogram combines the concept of the shape and the functional space layout.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT PROPOSAL
Apart from Wroclaw’s theoretical artistic traditions, the most substantial inspiration for the space organization was the square yard between Frycza Modrzewskiego, Bernardyńska and Purkiniego Streets that enables perfect development of the museum site. The concept of the urban space development has imparted its structure to each story inside the building. . In the neighborhood of the church located just by the museum site, the mass of the building visibly deviates and so it outlines the substantial separation of both structures, concurrently reflecting esteem of the old cathedral. The color of the museum building and its height (the building has been slightly embedded in the ground – 1 meter) were analysed in a comparative process of the structure. Within the space surrounding the Museum integrated have been concrete squares, „cut in†in the ground surface, which squares replicate the existing emblem of the main mass of the museum building. In view of the close proximity of the College of Fine Arts, they constitute fields for spatial public confrontation. Their structural concavities or convexities immersed in stripes of greenery create artistic and workshop activity spaces. The park around the MWW (with its structure retained) creates an insular logical sequence that draws on the space geometry that is filled with the oval Raclawice Panorama, the cubic MWW building, and „scattered†functional sculptures, where the freedom and liberty of spatial organization is one of the key functions of a contemporary museum. The paving of the square that is directly adjacent to the MWW is made from homogenous concrete that smoothly progresses into the dark and uneven façade of the building. The concrete surface, on both sides adjacent to the mass of the building, features strips of stairs that create an inner agora.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM’S ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT PROPOSAL, INCLUDING STRUCTURAL AND MATERIAL SOLUTIONS
The study of the „hard†square and its physical deviation (shift) at one point creates an ephemeral mass covered with a systemic stone structure. The cube’s structure intentionally is not a monolith. The ferroconcrete structure (50×50m) has been embedded 1 meter in the ground so that the museum can harmonize with the existing buildings in the vicinity. The structure’s model is not only a content-related translation of the concept of overlapping squares, but is indicative of the form’s dynamics and limitations as well. The cube’s base exists both in the plan, structure, and the façade. Both quarts boast logical points of reference. The parallelism to the church and the street is a consequence in keeping the proportion of the cube’s “movementâ€. Regular cubic slots in the building’s façade, moved away from the solid (1×1m, with the cross-section of 30 cm) are also a translation of practical interdisciplinary nature of the internal and external function of light (darkened top exhibition stories) and an opportunity to fill the space of stone cubes with LCD screens, which may provide a great surface for video art. For the play of the light that permeates through the lit-up holes, or by utilizing the bottom parts of the surface, the museum building becomes an illuminated mass that projects its luminous form onto the nearby park.
One important element is the museum’s openness to any and all artistic interventions that mark continuous changes in the façade structure. The museum’s stories are a logical response to the building’s functionalism, where the rooms – relative to the levels – are laid out in conformity to the consistent root idea of them being inscribed within a square. In shaping the interior, the determination to create open and functional exhibition spaces was underscored by figurative repetitiveness of interior surfaces, movable walls in the exhibition zone, and spatial functionality (office spaces outside the square, exhibition spaces inside the square).
Vertical communication between the stories plays an important role, e.g. for the „rest zone†that is tastefully located park-wards, and independent staircases (three on each floor), which ensures easy movement of visitors. For its “resonant†nature and pure spatial form, the museum hall integrates the spaces of smaller exhibitions, thus being a harmonic indication of what is to be found on higher stories of the museum. At the entrance to the hall there has been installed a longitudinal screen (of connected LCD screens). This visible projection may serve as a transfer of the visual announcement of temporary exhibitions. In order to consolidate the expanded space of functionally diversified rooms, on each floor there is a multimedia information point. The exhibition and auditorium space, with its modular walls, may be adjusted to the various “thematic contentsâ€, from performance through conventional exhibitions.
One shift of the structure causes another. This configuration is also retained in the museum’s interior. The surface indentation that leads to the building is not restricted with a framework, rather it is a response to the still controversial issue of „public space†that on its own defines social processes, and the museum’s accessibility. The bottom of the surface is partly filled with glass, which makes the mass of the building lighter and open to the space of the park. The stone façade on each side gains a different dynamics, is spatially variable relative to the different angles of light incidence. The cross-section through the façade gains in form sharpness for the sharpness of the external edges. The ceilings in the exhibition part are made from suspended parameters that create an adequate mesh of square modules. On the roof of the building there has been repeated the emblem of the square that strictly functionally illuminates the exhibition and conference room, projecting the shadow of the façade structure relative to the movement of the sun. The color contrast plays an important role between the external structure (organic black stone color) and the building’s interior. Its whiteness becomes a neutral space, where the viewers’ main focus will be on the various forms of art. The bright interior enhances the „mini architecture†(stairs, balustrades), adequately made from a stone material that twines the outer mass of the museum building.
All images by NIZIO Design International.
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