Museums and Libraries: The Latest Architecture and News

The architecture of the Museum of Fromelles, designed by SERERO Architectes, is aiming at establishing a link between sky and earth, between visitors and the “burial” of soldiers. This is a building with a low profile, which is half-sunk on its northeast facade. The work on natural topography has helped to improve the natural slope of the site and cover, partially, the technical space of the museum. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: Studio 8 1/2 Location: Plovdiv, Bulgaria Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Courtesy of Studio 8 1/2

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NEW YORK–Although the American Folk Art Museum has avoided dissolution thanks to a cash infusion from trustees and the Ford Foundation, the institution’s ongoing financial troubles raise difficult questions about the relationship between signature architecture and cultural capital.

Beginning this October, get ready to experience museums … lots of them! Whether you’re located in Los Angeles, London, Montreal, Arkansas or New York, check out some exciting exhibits taking place this Fall. “It is a group of seasonal offerings that reflect the state of the profession, to be sure. Credit remains tight for commercial and civic projects, for the most part, which means that there is plenty of time for retrospective analysis — and that completed buildings continue to get outsize attention,” explained Christopher Hawthorne for the LA Times.

Check out the list of museums after the break.

The New Taipei City Museum of Art (NCArt) should propose a new paradigm for celebrating art in Taipei, one that brings lifestyle, art, recreation and education together to celebrate the vibrant cultural identity of the community. The fusion of art with all aspects of one’s daily experience is driven by ideas about the intrinsic relationship between art and life relevant in Taiwan’s popular contemporary culture. The new museum seeks to embody these ideas and provide an iconic venue for the spontaneous unfolding of contemporary life.

Here’s the proposal Zerafa Architecture Studio presented for this project.

PA (Process-based Architecture) Studio shared with us their proposal for New Taipei City Museum of Art, which won an honorable mention. Their design includes a huge cube on an urban plaza. The interior space of this suspended cube is integrated and has not been divided to specified floors as the usual buildings. It consists of several moving galleries where the exterior walls are also good places for displaying the art works. More images and architects’ description after the break.