Name: Victoria Aphra Lowsley Peake Title: National Centre of Heritage and Preservation of France Description: The Paris Museums have tasked me with building an extension to the Museum Carnavalet, that is dedicated to the history of the city. The extension will subsequently be dedicated to the history and heritage of the Il de la Cite with specific relations to the Notre Dame. The extension will also expand on the museum of sculptures, creating a landscape strategy that links with the island, aiming to reintegrate the island back with the city. The project will pay homage to the many lives and layers of the Il de la Cite, drawing on the knowledge gained from Primer. Within the proposal I aim to investigate how architecture can celebrate heritage, seeking to fuse architecture with landscape to create an experimental design that unfolds for visitors throughout. This design manifesto leads into my direct line of enquiry which aims to investigate how architecture can celebrate history and heritage? It will also look to reincorporate the Il de la Cite back to the city. Throughout the project I was intrigued by many key aspects, the most prominent were centred around ideas on History, Materiality and Framing. By furthering the analysis from Primer, studying the changing urban landscape, understanding how it has adapted, changed, and reinvented itself over the years I was inspired to create a form that was present in the past. By rebuilding the urban context that has surrounded the Notre Dame in the past I have subsequently deisolate the Notre Dame, removing the Haussmann ideals. A main design strategy for the project was to create complementary contrasts between the massing’s and the Notre Dame as well as interesting design interpretations. These ideas have helped to make connections between the Notre Dame and the proposal. This idea initially started with a double skin cavity encasing each massing. This was my response to the thick structural walls of the Notre Dame. This idea developed. By studying the Notre Dame I was aware of the ‘secret’ stairs that are concealed within the walls that lead to higher galleries. This inspired the cavity walls to become part of a journey within the project. It created this idea of ‘inside out.’ The cavity walls become a transitional space making the journey of the viewer interesting. By investigating materiality, I have targeted a key studio theme by creating a connection between Old and New. A contrast between old and new materiality. A heavy, single mass juxtaposes the light, reflecting masses. I wanted my materiality choice to perfectly compliment the original sandstone buildings that surround the site. The massing’s facades adaptable tonal quality will change throughout the hour, day and season which allows for a sensitive relationship to the context. Framing is a key theme within this project, when traveling around the site, exploring all points of access I was fascinated to see the landscape creating interesting distorted frames of the Notre Dame. This idea of framing was something I really wanted to exploit within my design. Utilising my massing’s by creating various points of tension as well as angled heights to enhance the already present frames. The landscape strategy titled ‘Paris City of Trees’ aims to reintroduce and reconnect the Il de la cite with the surroundings. The proposal looks to infuse ideas of wandering through the streets that have carried people through Paris for centuries. I have targeted this idea through three key phases: the replanting of plane trees, creating sculpture and seating galleries as well as the redefining of the square. The overall landscaping strategy aims to respect the forms that were present in the past, again using materiality to fuse the old and new.
Contact Details: victoriaalpeake@gmail.com