MARITIME HERITAGE MUSEUM
LOTHAL, SARAGWALA, GUJRAT
- ARCHANA PRASAD 01FA16BAT013 SEMESTER 8
Abstract The thesis outlines a design proposal far a new maritime heritage museum at Lothal, Saragwala, Gujrat. The history of India’s maritime trade goes back to centuries ago. India has been one of the most important points of sea trade in the entire South Asian region since the beginning of maritime trade. The maritime tradition of ancient India begins with the Indus Valley civilization which saw longdistance maritime voyages by 2900 BCE. Long before the development of the Silk Road, the ships belonged to Indian traders travelled thousands of miles crossing the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea to find their markets in the West Asia, East Asia, South East Asia and East Africa. Similarly, merchants from these regions, especially Arabians and Chinese frequently visited the Indian Subcontinent, trading silk, spices, porcelain, ivory and even slaves. As the ocean trade flourished in the region, more maritime trade links were built connecting the sub-continent with the Roman Empire in the earlier times and other regions of Europe in the following period,
long before the Colonial period. As its peninsular location made it apt for trade though marine routes, it also led to the establishment of a number of ports across the region during very early times. With having a coastline covering thousands of kilometers, the continent, which is one of the biggest peninsulas in the world, featured busiest ports of that time. Lothal sea port was one of the sea ports in India that helped it to earn a respectable position in the global maritime industry even before the colonial rule. The museum will also be an independent research center of underwater archaeology for reconstruction of maritime history, archaeology of boat building and materials traded. It will have on display salvaged material from shipwreck sites in the Indian Ocean waters. The aim is further strengthened by the placement of the building on the site by working with relation to existing conditions and planning ways to implement it.
Project Background As Lothal was a famous port of ancient times, a Maritime Heritage Museum could be established. This could display objects related to shipping, fishing, trade and travel. Small ships and fragments reminiscent of stories of this ancient port could be unique attractions at the museum.
RATIONALE The major attraction of Lothal city is rooted in the archaeological excavations of the area and its large dockyard. The first tidal dock of the world was built at Lothal during the Harrapan times giving this place its historical significance. The Maritime Heritage Museum would also be a good source to highlight the maritime strengths of Gujarat from the time of the Indus Valley Civilization. COMPONENTS 1. Display of objects relating to ships and travel on ship models, cutlery and other found equipment. 2. A part of the museum could also house the items relating to the Indian Navy representing defence related material for public education. 3. Audio-visual presentations on the history of Lothal’s maritime trade tracking the economic prosperity of the region. 4. Display of Lothal culture, ancient artifacts, life-size statues and paintings on canvas highlighting Lothal’s trade links with Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia. 5. Souvenir shops to generate revenue for the museum. LOTHAL – THE PORT CITY Located in Bhal region of Ahmedabad district of Gujarat, Lothal is one of the most prominent cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. It displays engineering standards used in creating an artificial dock that show high standards of scientific and engineering skills, far more advanced than anywhere else in the world in 3 rd millennium BC.
Lothal – Artist’s Impression
Lothal – The Archaelogical Remains
Lothal – The oldest dock
Methodology The project is developed through understanding and analyzing different case studies, literature studies along with published news articles. And, also understanding the type of museum architecture most suitable for this project in order to respond to the climatic, topographic and historical context of the place.
According to the news article The museum will also be an independent research centre of underwater archaeology for reconstruction of maritime history, archaeology of boat building and materials traded. It will have on display salvaged material from shipwreck sites in the Indian Ocean waters. The museum is being set up with technical help from the Portuguese Maritime Heritage Museum. The central government has appointed the first Director General for the museum which will be attached to the Maritime Board of the Gujarat government. Lothal is the site of one of the oldest ports in India dating to the Bronze Age.
India’s first maritime museum at Lothal in Gujarat Budget 2020 India : The government has allocated Rs 3150 crore in the Union Budget for 2020-21, for the Maritime museum which is coming up in Lothal, Gujarat. The foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019 and it is expected to come upon the lines of a similar museum in Lisbon. The museum in Lisbon is managed the Portuguese Navy and the Indian Navy is looking to be part of this project which will under the Ministry of Shipping. Underwater archaeology : Underwater archaeology is a specialized branch of archaeology that involves recovering submerged remains such as ports, shipwrecks and studying proxy records of maritime activity from archaeological excavations as well as archival and historical records. There are an estimated three million undiscovered shipwrecks lying on the ocean floor, according to the Unesco. Between 1824 and 1962, over 12,000 sailing ships and war vessels were lost at sea. Many of them got wrecked in Indian coastal waters. In India, shipwreck studies were initiated in 1989 off Sunchi Reef in Goa waters. Later on, shipwreck were excavated and studied off St George’s Reef, Amee Shoals of Goa as well as in Poompuhar, Konark and Lakshadweep waters by the marine archaeology centre at the Goa-based CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography
(NIO). These studies have vast potential, given the fact that India has a rich maritime history. Archaeological evidence from the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia shows that Indian maritime voyagers ventured into western and eastern seas of the Indian Ocean some 4,000 years ago, according to researchers Sila Tripati(NIO) and Ravi Korisettar (UGC Emeritus Fellow, Karnataka University). Documented shipwrecks : The Indian marine studies have covered wooden and steel hulled shipwrecks off Sunchi Reef dating back to the 17th century IndoPortuguese trade and commerce network. The St George’s Reef shipwreck dates to the 19th century. The Amee shoals shipwreck was probably of British origin, dating to the 1880s or later. Steam engine shipwrecks have been explored and documented in the Minicoy waters. An 18th century wooden hulled shipwreck has been explored off Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu. Details of a ship-wreck off Konark coast of Odisha are still being reconstructed, according to a series of research papers published in journal Current Science. “Archival records have revealed a series of wreckages off the coast of Goa that occurred probably owing to a collision with reefs, sand bars and storm over the sea. The Portuguese records of 1497–1612 mention that 806 ships sailed from Lisbon to India. Out of these 20 ships ran aground, 66 were shipwrecked, the enemy captured four, six
were burnt, 285 remained in India, and the rest returned to Portugal,” researchers said. Portuguese ships that were wrecked include S. Cristovam which was caught in a storm on August 17, 1594; nau Santo Andre which capsized off Goa coast in May 1608; Nossa Sra Dos and Remedios were hit by a severe storm and sank on 28 January 1616. Another 12 Portuguese ships enroute to Calcutta from Goa, were reported sunk near Aguada Bay due to an unseasonable storm in 1648. “All the documented shipwrecks belong to the 17 to 20th centuries. This period is the transition phase between wood to iron and sail to steam. The hitherto discovered shipwrecks, namely the Konark, Vizag and Poompuhar, deserve further studies for reconstructing their detailed history,” pointed out Tripatiand Korisettar. Studying sunken ships could also fill the gaps in India’s maritime history and trade links with other countries. Some shipwrecks are of great of historical importance, researchers said. The Dart Mouth belonging to the East India Company, for instance, was carrying treasure when it is said to have sunk off Masulipatnam in 1719. Governor Keating, carrying King’s Stores sank in a storm in 1812 near Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. Some Indian ships are also lying in foreign waters, such as P&O Liner Indus which carried the Buddhist sculptures of Bharhut stupa and is known to have sunk in 1882 to the seabed of Sri Lankan waters.
Challenges of intervening a historical context As an aesthetic operation, the intervention is the imaginary, arbitrary and free proposal by which one seeks not only to recognize the significant structures of the existing historical material but also to use them as analogical marks of the new construction.
The relationship between new architecture with its historical context is determined from the values assigned to the meaning of its heritage architecture and consequently its modern interpretation. It is the architect’s task to express architecturally his or her era and simultaneously get involved in a dialogue with the context, in which he or she builds. The problems of the interrelation between the new and old architecture in the urban fabric are crucial in all cities, which represent physically the combination of the historical part of corridor streets, grid organization of the roads, squares, green public spaces, free standing public buildings and buildings articulated in a line with a main façade. When implementing in a dense urban historical fabric we have to take into account the close proximity of the adjacent architecture, and our intervention should be part of a whole considered as a unity. Issues involved in the implementation are the notions: place/ context, identity, interpretation, metaphoric
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The notion of context refers to the existing reality, to the given in its broad sense, whereas the notion of place has additionally a phenomenological connotation. The place is a totality made of concrete things and has an identity that comprises various aspects. It has a physical identity (landform, climate, environmental characteristics), a built environment identity (structure and organization of the urban setting as an imprint on the ground and as a section, size of its buildings, articulation of the building volumes, architectural morphology and materiality). Additionally, it is characterized by its economic identity that encompasses all the economic activities. Its social and cultural identity refers to all social and cultural events; and, finally, its historical identity is related to the collective memory of the inhabitants (monuments, landmarks, events taken place in the city, narratives). Considering all these parameters together, every place has a particular character and is designated by a special atmosphere. Every intervention in a historical context is based on the interpretation of the place since the new should be approached not in isolation but as totality with the existing architecture.
The strategies applied are a matter of interpretation of the historical context and the values attributed to its meaning. An analysis of various infill projects reveals three basic approaches. The first one can be characterized as referential, the second one differential and the third one contrasting. •
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In referential cases, the new develops a language by analogy with the old with immediate and many references to its principles. The architects grasp as a challenge the existing architecture as a productive source for their design. In the differential approach, the new has a different architectural language from the old, is conceived as an abstract continuation of its pattern of development and very few analogies can be traced. In case of contrasting approach, the new architecture is opposed to the existing context violating its principles. The term ‘violate’ should be understood in the way Bernard Tschumi attributes its meaning as related to intensity, contradiction, dynamism and disruption.
New Designs in Historic Context: Architectural Conservation Principles The design approach of new additions is one of the most commonly discussed issues in the conservation field. Additions should be differentiated but compatible for achieving a harmony between new and old. Heritage buildings can be transformed into major landmarks of the city after conversions or may harm the originality and significance of the heritage buildings. Although there are international preservation standard and charters that introduce principles for interventions in historical context, they are not followed by some countries. New designs in historic environments should add another value to the heritage buildings rather than destroying its character and identity. The additions can be acceptable if it contributes to the city identity and if it does not damage the identity of the existing historic structure.
An addition can help to transform a disused or abandoned heritage building to a major landmark, which acts as city branding. Re-modelling is a worthy challenge since having different historic layers on top of each other makes the building unique in terms of identity. Giving new life to old buildings is a worthy challenge since transformation of heritage buildings into major landmarks with necessary additions may contribute to the city identity. However, interventions applied should be considered in terms of conservation principles. The old and new can be
contrasting or harmonious but in each case the new addition have to be separated from the old ones with a different identity in order to see the difference between old and new. The relation between the historical buildings with the additions is so important that the new extensions have to be appropriate in terms of material selection, connection details and structure system. The new additions have to be separated from the old ones that can be removed any time without destroying the original building [9]. Preserving the qualities of the heritage building and being respectful to the existing building is crucial in terms of contemporary conservation concept. Designing in the historic context is one of the most challenging tasks in the field since it is not easy to catch the harmony between new and the old. On the other hand, having different layers on a single building makes buildings unique and charming in terms of identity. Generally, it is agreed in the research that additions should reflect the date that they are built in terms of innovation, technology and material. When reflecting its own era, compatibility between the old and new must be shown. New interventions should preserve the originality of the historic context and should be respectful to it. Appropriateness of the new designs in the historic context is an important issue in the conservation field since there are many different approaches and discussions.
Visually attractive buildings play a major role in promoting the city identity. These buildings can be influenced the city and building itself identity either positively or negatively. In order to judge the appropriateness of a new design in the historic context, there are international preservation standards and charters that can be guide designers and decision makers. The new designs in historic context can be acceptable if it contributes to the city identity and if it does not damage the identity of the existing historic structure. The buildings are seen as a political and symbolic interests and promotion of the city by local and planning authorities but at the same time, the interventions should respect the originality of the heritage buildings and its close neighbourhood.
CASE STUDIES The following case studies seek to find potentials and investigate different ways of creating spaces for exhibitions and learning. Though the projects may vary, they offer some insight into the problem at hand. By their way of organizing functions, thinking materials, relating to place, spatial experiences etc. The observations can be brought into the design phase as potentials and inspirations.
1. Danish National Maritime Museum 2. Porsgrunn Maritime Museum 3. The Waterfront Pavillion – Australian Maritime Museum 4. Titanic Belfast 5. China National Maritime Museum 6. Extension of The National Maritime Museum in London
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Danish National Maritime Museum Location : Helsingor, Denmark Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group Area: 17500.0 m² Year: 2013
The harbor bridge closes off the dock while serving as harbor promenade; the museum’s auditorium serves as a bridge connecting the adjacent Culture Yard with the Kronborg Castle; and the sloping zig-zag bridge navigates visitors to the main entrance. This bridge unites the old and new as the visitors descend into the museum space overlooking the majestic surroundings above and below ground.
Leaving the 60 year old dock walls untouched, the galleries are placed below ground and arranged in a continuous loop around the dry dock walls - making the dock the centerpiece of the exhibition - an open, outdoor area where visitors experience the scale of ship building.
Site Plan •
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The long and noble history of the Danish Maritime unfolds in a continuous motion within and around the dock, 7 meters (23 ft.) below the ground. All floors - connecting exhibition spaces with the auditorium, classroom, offices, café and the dock floor within the museum . Bridge slope gently creates exciting and sculptural spaces. A series of three double-level bridges span the dry dock, serving both as an urban connection, as well as providing visitors with short-cuts to different sections of the museum.
Situated in an old drydock, this national maritime museum is a pragmatic answer to the design challenge. The museum is situated underground around the drydock rather than inside it.
Analysis
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The placement of building around the drydock; underground offers a greater possibility to get daylight horizontally into the spaces. The exhibition spaces are organized in a circular motion around the dock. By twisting the geometry slightly so the spaces expand in width when you follow the exhibition and sloping the floor as little as 1:72, a clear sense of direction is experienced by the visitor. The exhibition is split into 2 parts, with the café as a natural break, the café furthermore has its own entrance making it accessible to people who might not be visitors to the museum. As one can observe in the plan, 3 spaces span the dock. Two of them act as an entrance path and a space for small temporary exhibitions as well as shortcuts between the two main exhibition spaces. The 3rd bridge supports the path to the Kronborg castle, while containing an auditorium. By building underground, the museum solves the circulation with a downward spiraling movement without losing the relation to the entrance. Indeed, one can speak of entering a different world in this museum.
CIRCULATION AND MOVEMENT DIAGRAMS
Materials Used Because the building is located underground, it does not change the existing skyline of the place. Hence, there is freedom of using any material. The materials used are very modern, mainly glass, aluminium and steel. Generally references to maritime signaling colours and construction details are used in selected details and functions.
The museum is placed in the old dry dock within the 500m UNESCO preservation line from the castle.
GALLERY AUDITORIUM
EXHIBITION SPACE
EXHIBITION SPACE
OFFICE
AUDITORIUM
EXHIBITION SPACE
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
WASHROOMS
DOCK
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
OFFICE
EXHIBITION SPACE
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PORSGRUNN MARITIME MUSEUM Location : Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway Architects: COBE Architects, Transform Architects ; Engineers: Sweco Area: 2000.0 m² Year: 2013
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Porsgrunn is an industrial town, which is reflected clearly in the museum’s surrounding context. It consists of small to medium sized industries in the shape of small characteristic wooden buildings. It was important to create a museum with a high level of sensitivity towards these surroundings, yet at the same time for the new Maritime Museum and Exploratorium to stand out as a spectacular contemporary building and become a landmark of Porsgrunn. The general vision was to turn a backside into a frontside. With the new museum the town will now orientate itself towards the beautiful river, which for much too long has been Porsgrunn’s industrial backside A characteristic aluminum facade, locally produced in Porsgrunn, not only holds the dynamic building structure together, but at the same time it reflects light and colors from the surrounding Norwegian mountain landscape.
Porsgrunn Maritime Museum and Exploratorium is situated in the Norwegian town of Porsgrunn, 100 km south west of Oslo. The new museum will tell the story of the town’s dock yard industry and its maritime history, which has employed thousands of people from the whole region. In addition, the attractive location of the museum right on the riverside opens up an important process for the city concerning the future extensive urban renewal of the entire Porsgrunn Harbor area.
Analysis The new Maritime Museum and Exploratorium is composed of eleven smaller square volumes, together amounting to almost 2,000 m2. Each volume has a different roof slant that assembled make up a varied roof structure. • In the plan the building is divided into two floors. • The ground floor has a very open character towards the surroundings, and contains all the public facilities such as foyer, classrooms, auditorium, canteen and so on. It also has a large flexibility towards adapting for different sizes of functions. • On the first floor the exhibition rooms are placed as one big open area which can then be programmed according to changing exhibitions. A significant feature in these rooms are the ceilings which follows the angles of the roof. The material might at first seem strange, given the context, and it is indeed an element which brigs a contemporary look to the building. The aluminuim cladding is produced locally and brings fish scales to mind. The interior continues the raw materials in a contemporary industrial look in the ground floor while the first floor is more subtle as a backdrop for exhibitions. •
EXHIBITION SPACE
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
CAFE
MAIN LOBBY
GALLERY
PANTRY
OFFICE EXHIBITION SPACE WASHROOM INFO DESK
MAIN LOBBY
INFO DESK
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
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The Waterfront Pavilion – Australian National Maritime Museum Location : Sydney, Australia Architects: FMJT Studio Area: 500.0 m² Year: 2015
Anchored to the South wharf of Sydney’s Darling Harbour, The Action Stations at Waterside Pavilion, Australian National Museum was built to mark the centenary of World War I and commemorate 100 years of service by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The purpose of this museum pavilion building is to create a transition experience for visitors from the waterfront dock onto the two navel vessels HMAS Vampire and HMAS Onslow. Built on a narrow existing wharf structure and to a tight budget the question was what should be the character of such a ‘building’ over the water of Darling Harbour and fitting tightly between two of the most significant Australian navel vessels.
The design seeks to bring the narratives of war to life and significantly enliven the visitors relationship with the vessels, waterfront and broader museum precinct. The articulated facade of the pavilion compliments the scale, form, colour of the vessels and the broader marine environment. The warship pavilion offers a dynamic, immersive experience and is an elegant, integrated addition to the Harbour precinct.
WATERFRONT PAVILLION
SITE PLAN
Analysis •
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The pavilion is further shaped by the primary forms of the adjacent vessels themselves, the conning tower of the submarine and the bridge of the destroyer creating central formal distortions. These distortions are then transformed into large glazed portals that frame lateral views onto the vessels. The interior of the Pavilion reflects elements of the interior of the navel vessels or an industrial shed; hardy, rough and adaptable. Sheet vinyl floors, insulted aluminium walls and industrial suspended fans. A lack of preciousness invites future change adaptation and evolution for future curators and visitors. The suspended tube ‘hovering’ over the wharf, creates space at the wharf level to move around and experience the edge; where the vessels meet the water. The tube appears to ‘float’ in the air between the vessels floating in the water. This tube was then formally shaped and profiled in relation the natural movement of visitors from the dockside up into the building, through the portals and gangways onto the vessels.
OPEN TO SKY TERRACE
ROOF PLAN OPEN TO SKY TERRACE
OPEN TO SKY TERRACE
ROOF TERRACE PLAN
EXHIBITION SPACE
LEVEL 1 PLAN EXHIBITION SPACE IS DESIGNED SURROUNDIG THE CENTRAL LINEAR CORE ENABLLING LIGHT TO ENTER THE BUILDING AND SIMULTANEOUSLY ESTABLISHING VISUAL CONNECTION WITH THE SURROUNDINGS
SECTION EXHIBITION SPACE
ELEVATION
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
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Titanic Belfast Location : Belfast, Northern Ireland Architects: CivicArts (Concept Design Architects), Todd Architects (Lead Consultant/ Architect) Year: 2012
Titanic Belfast is he world’s largest ever Titanic-themed visitor attraction and Northern Ireland’s largest tourism project. Located in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on the site where the famous ship was designed and built, Titanic Belfast’s sixfloors feature nine interpretive and interactive galleries designed by Event Communications that explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the city and people that crafted her, the passengers who sailed on her and the scientists who found her. The building also has temporary exhibits, a 1,000-seat banqueting suite, education and community facilities, catering and retail space and a basement car park. The master plan for Titanic Quarter seeks to create a 21st century centrepiece for Belfast, combining retail, residential, business and cultural elements, all spliced together with public parks, promenades and gardens. Titanic Belfast was conceived as the cultural lynch pin of the scheme, giving a form to the wish for a focal point to unite the site’s various heritage elements. Having first
CRYSTALLINE FAÇADE OF TITANIC BELFAST
investigated options for recreating Titanic at various scales, it was decided to design an entirely original structure that could also convey the wider narrative of Belfast, its industries and its people. Titanic Belfast celebrates five centuries of its maritime legacy including the building of the RMS Titanic. The architects have created an architectural icon that captures the spirit of the shipyards, ships, water crystals, ice, and the White Star Line's logo. Its architectural form cuts a skyline silhouette that has been inspired by the very ships that were built on this hallowed ground. Behind this shimmering crystalline facade, four dynamic ships hulls hold nine galleries. Glass balconies overlook the shipyard, drawing office, slipways, and Belfast city centre. The five-storey central atrium is inspired by the majesty of gangways, gantries, cranes that filled the void between the Titanic & Olympic when they lay side-by-side upon the slipways.
Titanic Belfast is an iconic six-floor building featuring nine interpretive and interactive galleries that explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the City and people which made her. It is the world’s largest Titanic exhibition. The building will also house temporary exhibits, a 1,000-seat banqueting suite, education and community facilities, catering and retail space and a basement car park. Visitors will learn about the construction of RMS Titanic and the wide and rich story of Northern Ireland’s industrial and maritime heritage.
SITE LOCATION PLAN
LEVEL 1 PLAN ELEVATIONS
CAFE MAIN ENTRANCE
BISTRO
MAIN EXHIBITION HALL
TICKETING
SHOP
MAIN LOBBY BUILDING SERVICES WITH LIFTS AND STAIRCASES
BUILDING SERVICES WITH LIFTS AND STAIRCASES
BUILDING SERVICES WITH LIFTS AND STAIRCASES
ATRIUM
BUILDING SERVICES WITH LIFTS AND STAIRCASES
Location : Belfast, Northern Ireland Architects: COX Architecture Area : 80,000 sqm Year: 2019
With a distinctive form, reaching out into the bay from a large waterfront parkland, China's first National Maritime Museum is a monumental intervention. Comprising four wings, focusing on the themes of "the ancient ocean," "ocean today," "journey of discovery" and "the age of the dragon", the project aims to highlight China’s maritime evolution. Covering 80,000 square meters, the three-story museum includes six display areas and 15 interconnected exhibition halls. Fully operational now, the museum held its soft opening in May 2019. 150,000m2 of site, 80,000 m2 GFA and 39,000m2 of exhibition space, the museum is two and a half times larger, in terms of both length and site area, than the Sydney Opera House the NMMC. Granted the World Architecture Festival Future Project of the Year, Future Cultural Project of the Year and the Competition Project of the Year in 2013, the project is a cultural phenomenon on the global stage.
CONCEPTUAL SKETCH
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National Maritime Museum of China
A series of interconnected pavilions cantilever out over the water from a central reception hall, a space for transition that provides access to the upper of the two exhibition levels. The interconnected halls “provide a constant connection between inside and out”. In fact, the landscape orients visitors and organizes their experience.
ELEVATIONS
SITE PLAN
SECTIONS
“The process was innovative – especially for a project of this size, scale, complexity, and location – in its deployment of parametric computer modeling that allowed both scale and detail to be resolved concurrently. Physical models focused on human scale and interaction while complex geometric algorithms resolved the doubly curved building ‘shell’ and its related cladding system.” – COX Architecture
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Extension of The National Maritime Museum in London Location : London, United Kingdom Architects: C. F. Moller Architects Area : 7300 sqm Year: 2011
The main idea of the extension - which C. F. Moller Architects won in an international architectural competition in 2006 - has been to ensure minimal interventions in this sensitive historic site and yet give the museum a new, distinctive main entrance and the necessary additional exhibition space, as well as a new cafĂŠ, restaurant, library and archives that meet the particular demands for storage of historical documents.
EXISTING
C. F. Moller Architects have designed the extension of The National Maritime Museum in London, Britain's seventh largest tourist attraction and part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. The design solution by C. F. Moller Architects has created a new main entrance emerging from the terrain. Most of the new building, however, is located underground - in total 5500 m2 out of 7300 m2. The roof of the new wing is a green, public landscaped terrace overlooking the Park, accessed at all levels by gentle ramps, even more so causing the building to blend with the park landscape. The extension has a contemporary aesthetic, but is inspired by the Baroque buildings’ rhythmic sequence of windows, and the profile of the new extension has been kept low to allow the Grade I listed Victorian facade of the existing south west wing of the museum to be appreciated as a backdrop to the striking new building.
EXTENSION
SITE PLAN
EXHIBITION TRANSIT STORAGE
AHU & BLDG SERVICES
RECEPTION
LOBBY
SKYLIGHT SERVICES
EXHIBITION LOBBY
VERT. CIRCULATION
LOADING BAY
LOADING DOCK
EXISTING SKYLINE OF HERITAGE BUILDINGS
EXISTING SKYLINE OF HERITAGE BUILDINGS
TOILET & CLOAKROOM
The extension has a contemporary aesthetic, but is inspired by the Baroque buildings’ rhythmic sequence of windows, and the profile of the new extension has been kept low to allow the Grade I listed Victorian facade of the existing south west wing of the museum to be appreciated as a backdrop to the striking new building.
The goal of the expansion has been to open up the museum and allow the display of more collections than ever before. The museum’s collections range from e.g. a toy pig that survived the sinking of RMS Titanic to Lord Nelson’s last letter to his daughter. The maritime archive contains some 100,000 books and nearly two miles (3.2 km) of shelved manuscripts.
EXISTING HERITAGE BUILDING
EXTENSION OF NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
MAIN ENTRANCE
The design solution by C. F. Moller Architects has created a new main entrance emerging from the terrain. Most of the new building, however, is located underground - in total 5500 m2 out of 7300 m2. The roof of the new wing is a green, public landscaped terrace overlooking the Park, accessed at all levels by gentle ramps, even more so causing the building to blend with the park landscape.
Titanic Belfast
China National Maritime Museum
The Waterfront Pavillion – Australian Maritime Museum
Danish Nation
nal Maritime Museum
Porsgrunn Maritime Museum
Porsgrunn Maritime Museum
Extension of The National Maritime Museum in London
PROGRAMME The objective of the project is analyzed; further detailed understanding is obtained by the functional and typological nature of the case studies on the basis of my understanding and observations and also through general literature related to museum architecture and the site and project specifics.
Brief Analysis The museum, is part of the Narendra Modi government’s attempt to reclaim and exhibit ancient Indian history from the Indus Valley civilization. The National Maritime Museum will have 1,20,000 square feet displayable space, and consist of up to 14 sections. In addition to the museum, there will be a maritime theme park, intended to give visitors an immersive experience of India’s maritime heritage through the ancient, medieval, colonial and modern ages. The government might subsequently set up a training and development facility on maritime archaeology, tourist accommodation centres and a nature conservation park within the museum compound.
Artifacts, literature, scholarship recovered by underwater excavation using the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) will be used for this project. But it is the dockyard that will be the USP of this museum.
The maritime trade between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia civilizations is another area of focus and the museum will not just show the maritime trade but also the focus will be on showcasing the urbanization, town-planning and magnificent technology of the Indus civilization.
MUSEUM ARCHITECTURE
Introduction and institutional role : A museum is an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these items available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. The largest museums are located in major cities throughout the world, while thousands of local museums exist in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public. The goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. Purpose : The purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display objects of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. From a visitor or community perspective, the purpose can also depend on one's point of view. "The new museum ... does not build on an educational superstition. It examines its community's life first, and then straightway bends its energies to supplying some the material which that community needs, and to making that material's presence widely known, and to presenting it in such a way as to secure it for the maximum of use and
GENERIC DIAGRAMS - MOVEMENT IN MUSEUMS
the maximum efficiency of that use.“ -John Cotton Dana, museum founder and librarian. Architecture : Museums create an expectation in the wider public. They do not have a specific character of architecture and completely rely on the typology and function. The building is supposed to be inspired by the story the artifacts have to tell. Maritime Museum : Maritime museums are museums that specialize in the presentation of maritime history, culture, or archaeology. They explore the relationship between societies and certain bodies of water. Just as there is a wide variety of museum types, there are also many different types of maritime museums. First, as mentioned above, maritime museums can be primarily archaeological. These museums focus on the interpretation and preservation of shipwrecks and other artifacts recovered from a maritime setting. A second type is the maritime history museum, dedicated to educating the public about humanity's maritime past.
However complex the design of the museum or the exhibition space might be; all the movement patterns can be simplified into these patterns. The nature of these spaces are introverted because of the typology and function as the main idea is to draw people. Therefore, a building of inwardlooking nature would be most suitable for a museum and an exhibition spaces.
Thus, the space can be designed as an open plan, or it could have a series of secondary spaces surrounding the central dominant space, or could be a linear procession or even a loop. It is important to maintain the flow of spaces into each other when facilitating such activities.
DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS FOR A MARITIME MUSEUM A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the military use of the sea. The great prize of a maritime museum is a historic ship (or a replica) made accessible as a museum ship, but as these are large and require a considerable budget to maintain, many museums preserve smaller or more fragile ships or partial ships within the museum buildings. Most museums exhibit interesting pieces of ships (such as a figurehead or cannon), ship models, and miscellaneous small items associated with ships and shipping, like cutlery, uniforms, and so forth. Ship modellers often have a close association with maritime museums; not only does the museum have items that help the modeller achieve better accuracy, but the museum provides a display space for models larger than will comfortably fit in a modeller's home, and of the museum is happy to take a ship model as a donation. Museums will also commission models.
1. Lobby : Reception, waiting area, information kiosks, etc. 2. Sculpture Plaza : Conceived as an important highly public venue foe exhibitions, gatherings and educational programs. 3. CafĂŠ + Kitchen : Value added experience for the museum. 4. Souvenir shop : The shop adds value in terms of both visitor experience and revenue. 5. Orientation Gallery : This space is intended to provide a pre-show function to orient visitors prior to entering the main exhibit areas. 6. Exhibition Galleries/Areas : Flexible areas displaying the artifacts and other things of historical importance discovered by the archaeologists and spaces educating people about the maritime history and maritime archaeology (Indoor and outdoor spaces). 7. Open Air Theater 8. Auditorium 9. Administration : Conference rooms, curatorial workshops, offices, space for research purpose, storage, washrooms. 10. Public Washrooms : According to the code and made handicap accessible. 11. Parking Spaces 12. Landscape and Hardscape : Outdoor spaces for public entertainment.
PROGRAM and Development 1. ADMINISTRATION 1. Office 2. Reception 3. Meeting/ Conference room 4. Seminar room 5. Toilet TOTAL 30 % circulation TOTAL AREA : 2. MUSEUM CAFÉ 1. Dining 2. Kitchen 3. Toilet TOTAL AREA :
TOTAL 30 % circulation
5 X ( 12 SQM) 15 SQM 60 SQM 200 SQM 2 X ( 15 SQM ) 395 SQM 118.5 SQM 513.5 SQM 200 SQM 80 SQM 2 X ( 20 SQM ) 320 SQM 96 416 SQM
3. LIBRARY
1000 SQM
4. FUNCTION AREA
300 SQM ( 1.5 SQM per person)
5. AQUARIUM
1500 SQM
6. TEMPORARY EXHIBITION 7. COLLECTION STORAGE
500 SQM
8. PERMANENT EXHIBITION 1. Navy (exhibition) 2. Indian Maritime History 3. Lothal – history 4. Trade routes 5. Maritime experience TOTAL
1000 SQM 2000 SQM 2000 SQM 1000 SQM 2000 SQM 8000 SQM
TOTAL MUSUEM AREA
12300 SQM
PROPOSED SITE FOR MARITIME MUSEUMLOTHAL, SARAGWALA, GUJARAT
The proposed site for development of Maritime Museum is adjacent to the Saragwala village, around 4 km south of the Lothal Harappan Period Archaelogical Site. The proposed site with an area of 375 acres has been selected for the development of the complete National Maritime Heritage Complex of which the proposed Maritime Museum will be a part of. ACCESSIBILITY : • Airport proximity : Sardar Vallabhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad -94.8 kms • Railway : Lothal – Bhukhi Railway Station – 6.0 km Ahmedabad Junction – 86.8 km • Road : 81.9 kms from Ahmedabad, Gujarat via NH47
Google Earth Images
DEEP BLACK SOIL These images above show an evident variation in the condition of the site over the years. The soil in this region is deep black due to its high salinity, which makes it unfit for cultivation. It is the reason that agriculture is so subsistence in nature in this region.
Contour Analysis
Land Use
SWOT ANALYSIS
LOTHAL
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Lothal was one of the southernmost cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, located in the Bhal region of the modern state of Gujarat and first inhabited c. 3700 BCE. Discovered in 1954, Lothal was excavated from 13 February 1955 to 19 May 1960 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the official Indian government agency for the preservation of ancient monuments. According to the ASI, Lothal had the world's earliest known dock, which connected the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati river on the trade route between Harappan cities in Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the surrounding Kutch desert of today was a part of the Arabian Sea.
TRENGTH :
The Lothal site has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site Historical Context of the place. The excavated Harrappan civilization site is the USP of the project. Regular influx of people (1st maritime museum of India) as the museum will act as a display center and research center of the maritime history of India.
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EAKNESS:
Remote location Rural setup; hence devoid of immediate facilities – medical, connectivity, etc. Humid- climate High water table because of close proximity to the sea High salinity in the land
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PPORTUNITIES:
To design India’s first maritime museum To create a new typology To display the rich Indian maritime history Revival of the importance of Asia’s first port.
HREAT:
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To preserve the visual, physical and the psychological realm of the place. Preservation of the historical context of the place.
Lothal was a vital and thriving trade center in ancient times, with its trade of beads, gems and valuable ornaments reaching the far corners of West Asia and Africa. The techniques and tools they pioneered for bead-making and in metallurgy have stood the test of time for over 4000 years. Lothal is situated near the village of Saragwala in the Dholka Taluka of Ahmedabad district. It is six kilometres south-east of the Lothal-Bhurkhi railway station on the Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar railway line. It is also connected by all-weather roads to the cities of Ahmedabad (85 km/53 mi), Bhavnagar, Rajkot and Dholka. The nearest cities are Dholka and Bagodara. Resuming excavation in 1961, archaeologists unearthed trenches sunk on the northern, eastern and western flanks of the mound, bringing to light the inlet channels and nullah ("ravine", or "gully") connecting the dock with the river. The findings consist of a mound, a township, a marketplace, and the dock. Adjacent to the excavated areas stands the Archaeological Museum, where some of the most prominent collections of Indus-era antiquities in India are displayed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Analysis of Visitor Behaviour inside the Museum: An Empirical Study -Alessandro Bollo, Lecturer, II Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico of Turin Research Coordinator, Fondazione Fitzcarraldo AND Luca Dal Pozzolo, Lecturer, II Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico of Turin Director of research, Fondazione Fitzcarraldo 2. Analysis and Prediction of Museum Visitors’ Behavioral Pattern Types -Tsvi Kuflik1, Zvi Boger3 and Massimo Zancanaro2 3. New Designs in Historic Context: Starchitecture vs Architectural Conservation Principles -Damla Mısırlısoy .Department of Architecture, Girne American University, Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus, (via Mersin 10 Turkey 4. Visualizing Museum Visitors’ Behavior Joel Lanir, Tsvi Kuflik, Nisan Yavin, Kate Leiderman, Michael Segal 5. New Architecture as Infill in Historical Context Konstantina Demiri, National Technical University of Athens 6. TimingandTracking:UnlockingVisitor Behavior by Steven S. Yalowitz1 and Kerry Bronnenkant 7. Archdaily 8. Archidigest
Thank you ARCHANA PRASAD; 01FA16BAT013
