A new Museum for the city of New York Brooklyn Heights, New York City, 2018 Supervisor: Prof. Arch. Fabrizio Franco Vittorio Arrigoni Co-supervisor: Prof. Eng. Giovanni Cardinale

THE DOCK

A new Museum for the city of New York Brooklyn Heights, New York City

The project consists of designing a new museum that collects the art and the history of the city of New York. The complex is made by two main buildings, a library and a museum. The first one is formed by two elongated concrete buildings that are staggered. They are divided by a long skylight that marks the outside of the distributive system and the entrance takes place in this “cut”. The library is internally characterized by a terraced structure in order to have good illumination through the large northern opening. Instead the museum is made up by a glass parallelepiped that is suspended on a concrete base. It is flanked by a building in concrete where the museum services like offices and warehouses are located. The entrance is on a lower level compared to the library, and between these two heights there are monumental stairs overlooking the island of Manhattan. From a lower square that goes under the building we can reach the entrances of the two parts that make up the expositive area. Looking at the old pier ruins to your left you can find the temporary gallery and on the right the entrance hall for the main galleries. The first permanent collection is characterized by a series of Wunderkammerns, which collect objects and works of art that can represent the history of this city frame by frame. The glass curtain walls allow the entire length of the exposition to have a view on the subject of the museum itself: the City of New York. It ends with a projection room and a double heighted space where stairs are located. The upper gallery is made up by a series of rooms that form a permeable space between the proper expositive area and the external hallways. The walls don’t touch the ceilings and they have the function of a skylight. The light is filtered through a system of sheds in opaque glass and a layer formed by transparent glass, vellum in fabric and micropierced sheet metal. The light is diffused and zenithal. When exiting from the galleries we encounter a service block that leads to a large interior terrace overlooking the city.

Library The library is formed by two elongated buildings in concrete straggered among them. They are divided by a long skylight that marks from the outside the distributive system.

The service block, in contrast to the part where the galleries are located, is characterized by a concrete coating. It contains the cafeteria, the storages and the offices.

The museum galleries are located inside a glass parallelepiped that is supported by a double truss laid on a series of pillars.

Inside the concrete base there are, on opposite sides, the entrance of the temporary collection and the lobby of the permanent collections, there is also a bookshop.

Museum | Blocco dei servizi

Museum| Museum galleries

Museo | Base

Library | Study area The study area, like the reading room, is located on a terrace slightly set back compared to the terrace below, in order to maximize the natural lighting coming from the big windows facing north. In the narrow block there is the book area, it’s connected with the study dedicated area through bridges suspended above the hallway. Expositive space | Permanent collection II The upper gallery is made up by a series of rooms that form a permeable space between the proper expositive area and the external hallways. The walls don’t touch the ceiling leaving free the countertop having the function of skylight. The light is filtered through a system of sheds in opaque glass and a layer formed by transparent glass, velum in fabric and micropierced sheet metal. The light is diffuse and zenithal.

Library | Hall and reading room The library, like the cafeteria and the museum offices, has an access on a upper level compared to the museum. The distributive system is formed by a long hallway in correspondence of the long skylight between the two blocks. The reading room is located on a terrace overlooking a lower space in order to get the best illumination from the light coming from north. In the narrow block there is the book area. Expositive space | Permanent collection I The first permant collection is characterized by a series of Wunderkammerns, which collect objects and works of art that can represent the history of this city frame by frame. The glass curtain wall allows, for the entire length of the exposition, to have a view on the subject of the museum itself: the City of New York.

Library | Toy library and service areas From the big northern opening copious light reachs even this partially underground level where are located the spaces dedicated to kids. This level is connected to the upper one through terraced steps which can be used as seats to watch little conferences or just for reading a book.

Museum | Temporary exposition The temporary exposition is divided from the main galleries in order to have a ticket sold separatly. During the late spring and the summer is possible to extend the exposition outside, in contact with the ruins of the old dock. Museum| Entrance hall The entrance to the museum main galleries takes place through this double-height hall which is enlighted by the upper glass parallelepiped.

_Details of the concrete building

Resistant system to horizontal loads In red the parts of the building that collaborate in order to absorb the wind loads Resistant system to vertical loads Resting section

Resistant system to vertical loads Suspended section

Resistant system to horizontal loads