CONTEMP ART ‘12
MEMORIES OF TOMORROW MARİA DULCE LOUÇÃO, PEDRO MOURA SİMÃO 1. Museum of the XXI Century: Characterization of the Atrium This first part intends to make a very synthetic analysis of some new Museum of Art opened in the first decade of the XXI Century, focused on describing the specific activities associated with the respective atria. In fact, the atrium plays a key role inside the museum. It is the departure point for the first contact with the architecture, with the exhibition, in both cultural and educational terms. To structure this analysis, we adopted the perspective advocated by Helena Barranha, which states that “in the European context, recent developments in museums of modern and contemporary art is characterized in two distinct architectural situations: restoration of pre-existing structures (. ..) and construction of new buildings.” Thus, for the first situation - “rehabilitation of pre-existing structures” – one may refer to the following examples: - Mass MoCA - Museum of Contemporary Art, Massachusetts, USA - Arch. Bruner/Cott – 1999 Adaptation of an industrial complex of the nineteenth century to a museum without permanent art collection and which management is guaranteed by the rental spaces. The Hall occupies the entire ground floor of one of the bodies and is defined by the store, coffee shop and gallery for children connected to the auditorium and administrative offices. It is accessible by a vestibule where it is synthesized the industrial nature of the materials found in the preexistence and used on the rehabilitation. - MKM Küppersmühle Museum, Duisburg, Germany – Arch. Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron - 1999 Adaptation of an old factory, brick-lined, without visual interface with the exterior through the annihilation of the windows on the main facade. The transition to the interior is marked by a metal surface that marks the access to the Lobby, with very low expression (as critical to the atria characterized by large commercial spaces), whose boundaries are diluted with the contiguous exhibition spaces. Its program comprises: reception, cloakroom, shop / bookstore, toilets (and separate cafeteria). It is currently in process of expansion, designed by the same architects. - Tate Gallery of Modern Art, London, England - Arch. Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron - 2000 - Palais de Tokyo - Centre for Contemporary Art, Paris, France - . Arch. Lacaton & Vassal - 2002 The site occupies the west wing of a building that also houses the Museum of 163