museums
The Great Court at the British Museum, London. Photograph: Alamy My walks to the British Museum as a young boy must have been as much a visual and emotional education as they were an untiring thrill. The time I spent there as a child is probably one of the reasons I came to travel so much to remote spots and folds of the atlas in later years. The museum itself is a map of the world, a time machine, too, offering mind trips to Mesopotamia, Memphis, Athens in the golden age of Pericles and to an encyclopedia of compelling civilisations, or haunting fragments of them. Here, dreams of exotic places, peoples and buildings were brought to kaleidoscopic, three-dimensional and mesmerising life.
'London's British Museum is a map of the world, and a time machine too' | Travel
Flashback: One of Archdaily’s goals is to bring you up to date information about projects that are being designed and constructed around the world. We’ve created a new category to cover inspiring projects that were constructed between the 1990′s and the early 2000′s. Architect: Paulo David Location: Vale dos Amores , Calheta, Madeira, Portugal Project Year: 2004 Photographs: FG + SG Fernando Guerra The city of Funchal gathers a whole structure of articulated museological spaces in its urban matrix, which creates a network of a way to read the city through a route connected to its expansion, without the existence of any space destined for contemporary art.
Flashback: Arts Centre – Casa Das Mudas / Paulo David
One of numerous amazing proposals for the new Taipei City Museum of Art, Kengo Kuma + Associates' unique design is wrapped in a wavy steel mesh that incorporates all of the best in sustainable technology. Called the Green Cell, the building does look a bit like a giant green-skirted banana, but the design's verdant cladding makes up for its likeness to fruit. In addition to an insulating green roof, EFTE cushions , and energy-efficient LEDs, this funky art museum is powered by building integrated solar-panels.
The Green Cell: Kengo Kuma’s Design for the Taipei City Museum of Art Has an Insulating Green Roof The Green Cell by Kengo Kuma + Associates – Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
The Niemeyer Centre in Avilés, northern Spain, had been compared to the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Photograph: Rafa Rivas/AFP/Getty Images A dazzling €44 million (£37.7m) arts centre in the northern Spanish city of Avilés is to close after six months amid political squabbling as the country asks itself what to do with a glut of glittering new museums . The Niemeyer centre, which was designed by the celebrated 103-year-old Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer , was intended to have the same impact on the industrial Cantabrian sea port as the Guggenheim museum has had on Bilbao, 150 miles to the east. As Spain tries to digest the museums and arts centres designed by world-famous architects during the boom years of public investment in culture of the past two decades, a new regional government has forced the centre to shut its doors for at least the next two months. The last show, featuring a piece choreographed by flamenco dancer Maria Pagés, will be on Saturday.
Spain's €44m Niemeyer centre is shut in galleries glut | World news
Avilés - Eigentlich hat Avilés alles, um Urlauber anzuziehen.
Niemeyer-Neubau in Spanien: Ufo der Hoffnung - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Reise
Across the street from Louis Kahn ’s first significant piece of architecture stands his last. The Yale Center for British Art was completed in 1974, the year of Kahn’s death and 23 years after its neighbor, The Yale University Art Gallery was finished. A style and theoretical change throughout a career is visible in one scene. Unlike most galleries, the design prompt for the Yale’s British Art Gallery called for very specific needs.
AD Classics: Yale Center for British Art / Louis Kahn
How Tech Is Changing the Museum Experience
The Global Innovation Series is supported by BMW i , a new concept dedicated to providing mobility solutions for the urban environment. It delivers more than purpose-built electric vehicles — it delivers smart mobility services. Visit bmw-i.com or follow @BMWi on Twitter. Museums are exploring digital and mobile technologies to enhance visitor experience. Initiatives go beyond technology within exhibits and installations, but also include more pervasive uses of tech to create interactive experiences for visitors throughout a museum, as well as remote experiences for those who cannot get there. Here, we highlight what three museums are doing to make the experience interactive, educational and engaging.
Can the experience of art be enhanced through architecture? White walls + Isolated Rooms = Good museum? Eero Lunden Studio ’s design of the Serlauchius Museum extension seeks to deviate from that mantra by developing an architecture that directly facilitates human interaction with art. It is Eero Lunden Studio ’s belief that the experience of art can be enhanced through innovative architecture and new spatial experiences. The design of the Maison Promino seeks to achieve two main goals: to create an inspiring piece of architecture that will enhance the image of Serlachius Art Museum globally and to provide a truly unique museum experience by connecting visitors with the art like never before.
Serlachius Museum Gösta Competition Entry / Eero Lunden Studio (Helsinki, Finland) + Eric Tan of PinkCloud.DK
Teshima Art Museum / Ryue Nishizawa
The Teshima Art Museum designed by Tokyo-based architect Ryue Nishizawa and Japanese artist Rei Naito opened in 2010 for the Setouchi International Art Festival that was held in the Takamatsu Port area of Japan. The open gallery space features 25cm thick concrete shell with two elliptical openings that are open to elements. Iwan Baan shows on his website a great photo set of the art museum which can be viewed here . More of Iwan Baan’s photographs following the break, as well as a video of the Teshima Art Museum while under construction. <p style="text-align:right;color:#A8A8A8"></p>
Update: BMW Guggenheim Lab / Atelier Bow-Wow
Last Fall, we introduced the collaborative effort between the Guggenheim and BMW to create a modern day public form exploring a variety of urban issues. The New York Lab, designed by Atelier Bow-Wow, has just opened in the East Village on a leftover 2,000 sqf plot squished between two existing buildings. With the ground level open to passersby, the museum focuses on creating a transparent and welcoming atmosphere to house discussions, lectures and the like. “We wanted the Guggenheim Labs to be in the middle of an urban environment where people live, work and hang out,” Mr. van der Leer, a curator for the Guggenheim, told the Times . More about the Lab, including a video courtesy Atelier Bow-Wow , after the break.
Yan ZhenQing Calligraphy Museum / Serie Architects
Yan ZhenQing Museum, designed by Serie Architects , displays works from the important calligrapher of the same name who lived in Shandong Province in China during the 8th century. His work introduced an element of vertical rhythm into the calligraphic script, and set up a style that was simpler and bolder. Situated in the beautiful landscape near the city of Linyi , the museum also strikes a bold stance in relation to its landscape. Rather than merge into the landscape the museum is placed on a series of three terraces that rise slightly above the topography.Architects: Arquitecturia Location: Tarragona, Spain Collaborators: M. Agudo, I. Sola, A. Horta, J. Farres, A. Serrats Contractor: TCSA Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Pedro Pegenaute