Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Museum, MOCA Architecture Competition, Argentina Design Contest

Buenos Aires Art Museum : MOCA Design Contest

Argentina Architecture Competition proposals by various architects

29 Oct 2012

Museum of Contemporary Art Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Museum

Design: Frisly Colop Morales, Jason Easter, Łukasz Wawrzeńczyk

New Contemporary Art Museum Buenos Aires

This proposal for the New Contemporary Art Museum (NCAM) in Buenos Aires embodies the city’s dynamic cultural vibrancy. The building sits along the Rio de la Plata, plugging into the internationally influenced urban context as an architectural artifact representing the city itself.

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The design provides various exhibition and gathering spaces for both programmed and passive interaction between local visitors, tourist and the various exhibits of architecture, painting, sculpture, fashion and textiles. Two such external spaces activate the site and enhance the Puerto Madero waterfront promenade experience.

By recessing the corners of the East façade a plaza is created to the South and an amphitheater to the North. A large framed opening in the North elevation holds a dual-direction stage linking the interior auditorium with the exterior amphitheater. Large retractable panel doors enable performances for visitors located inside, outside or both simultaneously.

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From beneath the building visitors enter into a four-story atrium which acts as the vertical spine connecting the exhibition spaces above. To the North and South of the atrium are three levels of single and double height galleries.

Minimal walls create variable separation of the spaces, catering to the requirements of the curators. The open atrium is traversed by a walkway gallery along the west façade, connecting the two ends of the building. The top of the atrium space is punctuated by a large café which provides views to the various galleries below.

A panelized façade composed of primary frames and secondary filler panels washes the internal spaces with varied quantities of natural light. By altering the proportions of solid to glazing within the filler panels the façade opens to provide a large amount of light to the atrium and closes near the galleries where moderate and indirect light is best. With the longer facades of the building facing East and West the skin receives large amounts of solar radiation.

Therefore, the secondary panels are positioned within the primary frame to provide deep reveals in these trouble areas. The diagrid frame system serves as shading devices to mitigate solar heat gain. Low e-glazing provides additional protection and moderates the amount of cooling or heating required for the building.

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The roof of the building takes advantage of the orientation through the use of a flush mounted solar panel roof. Large chamfer surfaces running the length of the building orient a portion of the panels towards the morning and evening sun maximizing the angle of incidence and increase the efficiency of the panels.

The NCAM Buenos Aires is a remarkable venue which presents itself as a participant in the current architectural movement of the region, connecting to the context and becoming the canvas upon which the contemporary arts will continue to redefine the now and future.

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New Contemporary Art Museum – Building Information

Architects: Frisly Colop Morales, Jason Easter, Łukasz Wawrzeńczyk
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Design Frisly Colop Morales, Jason Easter, Łukasz Wawrzeńczyk
Client: AC-CA
Program: Museum
Phase: Competition
Building Area: 6,900 sqm
Year: 2012

Buenos Aires New Contemporary Art Museum images / information from the above architects

14 Aug 2012

MOCA Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Museum Design

Design: Dr Margot Krasojevic

MOCA Buenos Aires

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Observatory Art Museum, Buenos Aires

Floating Realities

The site of the museum is on the banks of the Rio de la Plata in Buenos Aires’ Puerto Madre, the area is a juxtaposition of industrial warehouses, shipping docks, commercial district and nearby nature reserves.

The museum’s design attempts to choreograph images and views into the city to highlight the ever expanding definition of what is considered real, diluting the edges between the viewer, exhibits, city fabric and it’s immediate context. The form has no spatial hierarchy creating an ethereal presence, the antithesis of monumentality and the specificity of material place. The architectural gesture is that of a glimpse, a collage of superimposed spaces with no beginning or end, no defined boundary as they are experienced like an edited animation.

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The structure consists of a single, laser cut aluminum, semi-monocoque shell, prefabricated off site.The aluminum shell is made up of 3 Meter wide sections welded together, sanded and spray painted white, it appears to float above the circulation giving the impression of weightlessness, the observatory museum’s sole support is the circulatory ramp shaft off which the structure is cantilevered and tied to the dock.

Window wall openings slide back into the shell giving boundless views into and through the museum, like an observatory. The city is brought into the museum. The windows walls are made from toughened laminated glass inclined by 25 degrees so as not to reflect sunlight and glare from the river.

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The structure uses the same technology as boat manufacturers, the interior is free of columns providing unobstructed views. The ground floor plane restructures the embankment and dock by bringing the river partly into the design, using a series of locks which flood sunken platforms within the museum when needed. Ramps rise out of the water connecting the main gallery space with the rest of the site intervention.

The museum’s atrium has a series of lanes bridging over sections of river water. An opening in the roof allows rainwater to collect in the impluvium below; the space is flexible and has the option of being more or less absorbed into the city depending to environment and exhibit.

The new edge condition reflects the nature of the nearby reservation area which contrasts the immediate industrial and very urban river condition. The plan brings together different geometries similar to the varied urban fabric of the city itself.

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The glass wall windows dictate attention between exhibits and city views, creating a collaged effect of the building within it’s context. This superimposed perception of context and design attempts to offer new environments which we can claim and adapt, bringing us closer to the concept that perception and the mind’s interpretation formulate the basis for understanding and exploring the changing definitions of real and virtual.

The semi-monocoque structural system creates an illusion of the building drifting along the river, or floating over the city raising the question what happens when an illusion, a virtual manifestation becomes real through appropriation. aluminium.

Dr Margot Krasojevic

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