Designed by LAR + Fernando Romero, the Soumaya Museum, slated for completion in 2010, will house a diverse collection of international painting, sculpture, and object art from the 14th century to the present, including the world’s second largest collection of Rodin sculptures. Conceived as a sculpture, the museum’s amorphous form will be a contemporary icon for Mexico City that is also a functional curatorial space.
More about the museum, including images and videos, after the break.
Its “avant garde form” is a drastic break from art museums that typically become standard volumetric boxes. The distinct form will allow every user to perceive it in a different way upon entering the museum. The façade is made from translucent concrete that filters light, making the spaces feel light and open, without sacrificing the material’s structural integrity. Once inside, the “intermediate levels are open to each other in a continuous volume, but partially separated by enclosed areas, making all spaces unique in their shape and form.”
Constructed with steel columns of varying diameters, the structure provides a non-linear circulation route taking viewers past the nearly 20,000 square meters of exhibition space.
The museum will also include an auditorium, library, offices, a restaurant, and gathering lounge as well as four underground levels of parking below two underground levels of storage and restoration labs.
All images courtesy of LAR.
To see more images.
Type: Art Museum Location: Mexico City, Mexico Exhibition space: 20,000 sqm (215,000 sf) Exhibition floors: 5 Scheduled to open: end of 2010
