As repositories of knowledge and catalysts for innovation, museums represent an architectural typology filled with opportunities. They act as an intermediary between the general public and artists, historians, and researchers, creating the medium for the display of cultures and creativity while also striving to make knowledge accessible to all. Through careful curation and exhibition design, they provide a platform for education and research, fostering an understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures, histories, and ideas. For architects, they also present an opportunity to conceive spaces aligned with the exhibits on display to create an immersive experience for the visitors.
This week's curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights projects submitted by the ArchDaily community that showcase art, technology, and innovation through the program of museums and cultural centers. Featuring projects from emerging and established architectural offices such as Hariri Pontarini Architects, Beyer Blinder Belle, Studio Saheb, RAMSA, and Ho Khue Architects, the selection includes a variety of scales and programs, from a museum dedicated to the commemoration of the Holocaust to a private sportscar museum in Austria or an intricately-shaped art gallery in Vietnam.
Read on to discover 8 museums and cultural projects submitted by the ArchDaily community, along with descriptions from the architects.
Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity
Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners
The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida (HMREC) unveiled architectural renderings for the new Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity in downtown Orlando, which will be the world’s first Holocaust Museum designed around survivor and witness testimonies. Housed in a landmark lakefront structure, the museum will serve as a distinctive and meaningful destination for the region—a global tourist hub that saw 75 million visitors in 2019—and a bridge to local students and residents of Central Florida. The 43,000-square-foot museum, designed to symbolize a beacon for humanity when illuminated, is the first built around the stories of survivors and the first museum-wide partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation.
Requalification of Byrsa Acropolis and Rehabilitation of the Carthage National Museum – Competition proposal
The competition proposal includes the sorting of traffic routes, arranging administrative function spaces, and re-planning the museum’s display layout. The project also makes full use of the history and landscape features to build the site into an urban landscape spot that integrates cultural tourism and residents' daily leisure life. The design features an earth-sheltered structure, a viewing restaurant (coastline and historical ruins), a rotating open auditorium, and an interactive waterscape sand table.
Bauhaus Museum
The Bauhaus school brought together different art disciplines that seemed to be separate from each other under one roof, enabling them to be influenced by each other and to produce together. In the design of the museum, it was aimed to exhibit all the works in a single mass instead of separate exhibition halls, and a single exhibition space was designed. The main exhibition area is designed with a zigzag path on the ramp that reduces the slope.
Kherad-Sara
KHERAD-SARA, is a cultural project that is originally defined to honor Ferdowsi, an ancient Iranian poet. The definition of project leads us to the notion of traditional Iranian architecture, thus the SHABESTAN typology structural pattern has been chosen as an initial pattern for which upon its grid the design has been developed. The extracted structural lines are connected with extrusion in proper direction to host our functional programs, thus a new system of generating form upon an old and traditional grid has been used in this project.
Wings Art Exhibition Center
The Wings Art gallery originated from the local desire to have a space for the exhibition of valuable works of art. Wings Art’s language and architectural solutions have wiped out the common pattern and boredom of state-managed projects. The work is inspired by the image of sea bird wings with the emphasis on the flexible concrete frame structure. The roof of Wings Art is skillfully combined with plants, formed by a small green park, adding a community living space, walking, fitness, and more for the local citizens.
Raclin Murphy Museum of Art
Robert A. M. Stern Architects (RAMSA)
The Snite Museum of Art of Notre Dame will become the new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art in fall 2023, moving to an entirely new building that will serve as a dramatic gateway to the University. Thoughtfully designed by award - winning classic design firm Robert A. M. Stern Architects (RAMSA), the project’s first phase is projected to open in November 2023 and will feature a 70,000-square-foot facility devoted to new state-of-the-art galleries, a café and retail space.
Private Sportscars Museum
This private museum near Vienna houses a collection of sportscars passionately assembled over decades. Each car is placed within a semicircular, light-filled bay, or center stage, celebrating the owner’s fondness for every vehicle. Workshops and warehouses around the site provided the inspiration for an architecture that seems to honor the dignity of industry, and a local brick tradition motivated the use of glass-blocks throughout the facade. They fill the interior with monumental light, and make the building glow at night.
Gamsakhurdia’s Museum
ANNDESIGN
Situated at the strategically important crossroads where Europe meets Asia, Georgia has a unique and ancient cultural heritage. In 1991, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the son of the famous Georgian writer and public figure Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, announced the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Georgia and became the first president. Family lived in Old Abasha in Western Georgia. Gamsakhurdia’s Museum project in the village of Old Abasha combines the history of the personalities and merits of the father and son.
HOW TO SUBMIT AN UNBUILT PROJECT
We highly appreciate the input from our readers and are always happy to see more projects designed by them. If you have an Unbuilt project to submit, click here and follow the guidelines. Our curators will review your submission and get back to you in case it is selected for a feature.
