New Watercolor Museum -Site Defined

A peaceful approach a long way from New York

Theory and the New Museum

The greater the level of investment the more rewarding will be the experience.

The New American Art Museum is based on several layers of investment. Each of these layers is rooted in the requirements. For instance, the need for museum spaces nationally and internationally has grown and specialty collections are becoming more common. With these layers of investment comes intersections of features which references the ideas of a museum in my life.

1) Water (movement)
2) Light (transparency with its root in watercolor art)
3) Nature (the natural environment)
4) History (Existing plantation precedence and function)

Each of these intersections bring a distinct character to help in forming a place where watercolor art can be created and enjoyed.

Progress Rendering -1 of 2

Progress for Now

I am working on a large scale rendering which I will post next week. It will be hand drawn and mixed media. With this rendering I will connect the building with the land and reveal many of the material selections which are part of my thesis. Please stay tuned.

Comments from June Intensive 2008

Comments from the Intensive:
A word about the comments seems to be in order . The synthesis of the major factors of my project centered around several important topics and resulted in those observing my work issuing questions and impressions emanating directly from the images which I presented.
I am grateful to each and all the jury and to the student comments which are summarized here:

1) The thesis statement as presented seems a bit to general for a thesis statement and would be best focusing on a rewording of the idea in a more coherent form. The idea of providing a place where working , display and restoration /creative functions must be clearer. A Stronger narrative is needed for relationship of the building to the site. One very good restatement was the following:
“ Can the art and practice of creating and displaying watercolor art benefit from an architectural form that is derived from its practice (the practice of watercolor)?”


3) Programic conditions of the functions of my thesis needs to consider the activity which is part of the building. For example, it was mentioned that part of the museum would be home to the resident artists who live in the plantation house and work in the museum. Hover no programic functions were allocated for working in the new museum.
The observatory /creative area of the top floor would be allocated for temporary artist uses. Functional work spaces on the lower level would provide work spaces for each artist. A total of 7 rooms in the plantation house would be available , consequently seven studios on the lower level of the museum could be allocated in the 1700 square foot spaces with direct access to the site.

4) The museum is less about a quick trip and more about a center of study and self exploration into the art form. The “doing “of watercolor is predominant as it is expressed in my program. The ability to display the functions of purpose to serve and preserve seems to be more direct .

5) The building needs to address the idea of transparency and display. Protection of the artwork is very important. In my presentation at the prompting of my advisor I “opened up” the building with many walls and transparent areas and walls. My original proposal was to have fewer openings and provide “light scoops” located in strategic locations to give one a sense of outside without broad opening of direct light. This will expressed in further iterations of the envelope.
Reference was made to Herzog and deMueron Museums. And to the Davis Museum at Wellsley College.

1/8" =1'-0" Sections

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe-

"three things are to be looked to in a building: that it stand on the right spot; that it is securely founded ; and it be successfully executed" Elective Affinities tr. James Antony Frounde ,Book I chapter 9

"The fate of the architect is the strangest of all. How often he expends his whole soul, his whole heart and passion to produce a buildings into which he himself may never enter." Book II, chapter 3

Quality of Education

The exploration of the ideas brought me to add additional schemes. Yet it did not present to me a final design. It seems that the quality of the schemes is dependent on the resources and for the correct blend of form and function. The only results of this search was the opportunity to play with the materiality of the thesis. It is puzzling to find as one explores and includes things like prominent volumes and blending with nature, that the outcome is far different when one does not have the laser cutter.

Et tu, Parti?

The traditional debate on the subject of sustainability is stifled I believe by the perception that the natural environment is in conflict with the forces of Free Enterprise. Disturbances of the global ecology is a result of not making the proper reference to the parameters of the environment.

The new Watercolor Museum will be a zero footprint and CFC site. Innovation here is a reflection of the use of simple technology to preserve the natural environs for future creations.

Parti-Model Revisited

I have a strong sense that the envelope of the building is evolving and growing with each new bit of information and research. I find the more that one researches one element i.e. Living organic walls .. the layers of the building take a new and surprising greater possibilities to develop.

While I was looking at the different parti's it naturally forced me to choose one best layout. Ultimate it is all about choices....the right choices!

The Parti

Central ideas governing and organizing a work of architecture.

Unlike a floor plan which relates spaces inside the building the parti relates an essence. When I look at everything from the point of progress my charcoal sketch implies a relationship to a historical house and plantation. The museum is set in the midst of a natural environment and presents the visitor with a mandate to discover the new center. The Museum is slowly revealed in the winding path . The approach opens up to parking and and the entry on the lower level. The Upper levels contain the art and viewing areas, and the roof is observation to painters.

As an a matter of reflection at this point, I find confrontation with the fact that having learned the way of sketching and hand drawing my digital acumen is perhaps in need of repair. What is necessary is to concentrate on the import and the quality of posts for the future. More time is necessary to study the intricacies of this new Meusem.

I find that in the process of research new ideas surface and present themselves as options. Research must be ballanced and practical.

Quality and Sequence

A word about a word. Reflectance is more an indication of utility than the actual intent. It is transparency which provides both watercolor and the appreciation of the watercolor art.... vitality. The use of these images shows a progression from lower left, as one approaches the site to the top right as one would experience the spaces.

These are quick sketches. A photograph would be exact, however, like watercolor it is the shimmering nature of the edges of an image that make for the experience.

Questions

The questions must be asked- what is a museum and why build it? After all, with the Internet we can see all the art we want-right? We must be in its presence to experience the truths it reveals.

Much like architecture one must see the original- move around it and experience being as far away as the one who created it.

The views of nature enhance and focus this search for truth in beauty.

A place of contemplation, meditation and elevation of the spirit. A Museum of Watercolor can be all of these things: rooted in the land, transected with water and bathed in the light which is essential for human activity.

This then is the beginning of the physical form. The making of a place should nourish and extends the interests of humankind. This should happen in a way that causes man or woman to stop and divert the stream of life away from the mundane towards the savor of ' elan'... of being!

Relationship and Foundation

In the midst of determining my parti I lean on the idea of sturcture and the ability of the site to bear both the building and the intrusion on this verdant landscape. It is such a clear indication to me how sensitive one must be with land which has both history and nature. I will refine the idea of place.
My next post will have the parti for the museum with orientation and a rough layout of the orientation of the rooms and more important the relationship of place to building.
While many places are still spots of creation where an artist or an observer can replentish the spirit on the way to creativity. The place here will allow one to reflect on the place as well as project into the task at hand.

Actual Sun Chart for Blandfield Coordinates

Solar Positioner

http://topweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/antarctica_imagegal/solar_locator.pdf

Site Plan -Building Orientation

Schematic Model

The three elements which are demonstrated in the model are water on the lower level (which is constantly in ebb and flow) and will be connected

by a gradual waterfall that links the upper Entry Level with the water shown in this model from left to right.

The Land which is observed in the green roof material and planting around the building and as a living screen on the south side of the building.

And final light which is shown in the multicolor glass which on the following photo of the model to the north.

Relationships and Uses in the Program

Theory and the New Museum