ETFE
Art installation/telephone wires
Map
StairMy favorite building that we visited today was the PreColombian Art Museum. The entire building is full of surprises that begin with the front facade. It’s is a neoclassical facade meaning that it uses principles of antique architecture while continuing to pursue forward thinking as new inventions. The front facade has a huge contemporary, glass door that gently connects to the old architecture. Radic does a great job of preserving the old architecture while using extremely progressive pieces like ETFE to enhance and change the perception of the space.
I really appreciate Radic’s attention to the small details. They are very easy to spot on the stairs. The stairs are a mate black with light under the handrail which illuminates the edges and guides you into the dark basement gallery. On the higher floors the stair touches the wall and the and the handrail is displaced from the wall while on the lower floors the stairs themselves are also offset from the wall. The layering of these illuminating spaces gives the space depth and create a sublime feeling.
Layering and levels of transparency are another big theme in this building. They can be seen as soon as you walk into the building and see the double layers of ETFE that filter in light but also allow for a abstracted view of the buildings above. This is also seen in the pop out map on the stairs that is overlaid with red outlines of the specific areas. The display cases were extremely elegant in the way that they seemed to cantilever off the ground. The display case and well as the inside stands that held up the vases are made out of glass creating an airy/ floating feeling. The layering effect used by the architect is also found in the new art installations. There was layering of colored fabric, layered transparent screens in which light was being projected on and what was probably not intentional but I really liked was the layering of the strings holding up the colored and the telephone wires connecting to the surrounding buildings.The art that is influenced by the architecture brings attention to these architectural details that could easily be missed.