Interweaving

Dea Garboutcheva

Location: Vienna

Floor Area:

Laboratories 1420 m2

Office 1250 m2

Exhibition 490 m2

Conference room 190 m2

Specific Characteristics: braid | interweaving | union | shared functions | degree of privacy | Interaction

The basic concept of the project is a mixed use building with three different aspects: labs, offices and a museum, for the receiving and curation of extraterrestrial samples. My concept is derived from the logic of a braid. Typically a braid consists of different parts, that function as an entire system when woven together into one another, crossing each other at certain section points.

Following this concept every building part has its own area, as well as areas that are shared with two other parts. The conference hall can therefore be accessed from both the museum and the offices. The visitors of the museum can observe the working process in the curation room of the non-biohazardous lab, which is the section point between those two.

Consequently, through the separation of the three main functions of the building - museum, offices and labs - we manage different degrees of accessibility. Through interweaving functions interaction between the different user types is provided.

Concept diagrams

Building

There are two entrances: A public entrance for the visitors of the museum and a separate entrance entrance for the facility‘s staff. The offices and the labs, are on different floors. Non-biohazardous labs and the offices for the scientists are located on the first floor, while the biohazard labs and the administration offices are located at the second level.