The aspect in Smiljan Radic’s design of the Pre-Columbian Museum that I found most interesting was regarding the light. All throughout the space, the light that was allowed to come into the building or a specific space was controlled by design. As we decended into the lowest level of the museum, the light gradually got dimmer and lessened. Soon, the light of the railings on the stairs was the only lighting to get to the lower level. When on the lower level, the light demonstrated the hierarchy in the space, which was the statues. On the opposite end of the statues, light also highlighted the other main artifacts.
The main level had the most light, especially with the open courtyard with the bright orange, pink, and purple installation. I found this to be one of my favorite parts of the museum. The vibrant colors of the installation allowed it to be a focal point, since the museum itself has a white exterior and the surrounding buildings are dull colors.
On the second level of the museum, the light allowed in was very controlled. This was demonstrated through the transparent shades on the windows that surrounded the courtyard. The purpose of this was to allow the light in the exhibits to be dimmer and show the best qualities of the space. While it would have been nice without the transparent shades blocking our views across the courtyard, it is very understandable why they are present.
This is the vibrant courtyard on the ground level of the Pre-Columbuian Art Museum. On the second level, you can see the black, but transparent, shades that are used to control the natural light on the second level.
This shows the reduced light on the lower level of the museum. The statues that are the main hierarchy are across from these artifacts, on the opposing side of the space. These are still important, as shown with the light above them.
On the ground level of the museum, there is the most amount of natural light in. On the left of this main stairwell was the ETFE courtyard, and to the right was the outside courtyard, both allowing natural light to filter throughout the space.
This is my interpretation of the courtyard using multiple media types- pencil, pen, poche marker, and water colors.