SOMOS.arquitectos proposal for Leganés Sculpture Museum renovation.
Two different scales of intervention are analyzed. On one hand, the global scale of the outdoors sculpture park covering all the public space used for that purpose. On the other, the Dehesillas building, designed to house the future museum. We propose an intervention strategy that links both programs, improving their access and connecting their itineraries in order to offer a clear and straightforward solution.
1. OUTDOORS SCULPTURE PARK.
Current Status: At urban level, the enclosure of the Sculpture Museum with its fenced perimeter stands as a barrier at certain times of day, allowing access only on visiting hours. When the museum is closed, it represents an insurmountable limit except for two specific points. Similarly, access to the museum has a very secondary role in relation to the city. The parking area remains as a leftover space of the plot.
Proposal: we propose to reverse the concept, let’s give the city the chance to organize the whole complex, establishing a fragmentation of different enclosures which combine sculptural groups by topic or authorship. It thus increases the contact area of the museum with the city, allowing a greater number of connections and urban routes. Access to the museum is modified, giving continuity to the outdoors exhibition space that goes across the building forming a large open main lobby. The parking is slightly buried, finding its space under a green roof. Given the new layout of the museum, thirteen new states of enclosure appear. We would like to integrate them along with the sculpture museum, transforming their design in another outdoor sculpture, while still defining the new spaces. In this way, content and container are valued together transforming urban routes into an integrated experience in the museum. 13 artists will have the opportunity to design the new “skins”.
2. DEHESILLAS BUILDING. The old sculpture museum is being redesigned and extended, seeking to open the hermetic character of the existing building by a clear movement in four stages:
PARTIAL DEMOLITION: the buildings which are obsolete or do not conform to current regulations are demolished. This decision seeks to achieve continuity of the outdoor park through the new museum.
THE GREAT HALL: building a new piece that will house temporary exhibitions. Thus, the central band becomes a large uncovered entrance hall in continuity with the park, sheltering outdoor sculptures. It is framed by both parallel two-storey wings and will be accessed through several points linking this space with the different parts of the program (lobby, shop, auditorium, sculpture store, access to the upper level of offices and classrooms...).
PARTIAL COVERING THE OLD YARD: designing a new permanent exhibition piece with the size of the old Dehesillas building courtyard, placed over the old building and bridging the width of the central strip. In order to allow light and crossed views, the volume must undergoes a cutting operation.
FINAL VOLUME: the permanent exhibition piece is stretched to cover the entire length of the entrance hall, generating varying gaps that allow ventilation, light and diagonal views within the new spaces. This volume is configured as a linear path that zigzags flying over the entire outdoor lobby. .
Two different scales of intervention are analyzed. On one hand, the global scale of the outdoors sculpture park covering all the public space used for that purpose. On the other, the Dehesillas building, designed to house the future museum. We propose an intervention strategy that links both programs, improving their access and connecting their itineraries in order to offer a clear and straightforward solution.
1. OUTDOORS SCULPTURE PARK.
Current Status: At urban level, the enclosure of the Sculpture Museum with its fenced perimeter stands as a barrier at certain times of day, allowing access only on visiting hours. When the museum is closed, it represents an insurmountable limit except for two specific points. Similarly, access to the museum has a very secondary role in relation to the city. The parking area remains as a leftover space of the plot.
Proposal: we propose to reverse the concept, let’s give the city the chance to organize the whole complex, establishing a fragmentation of different enclosures which combine sculptural groups by topic or authorship. It thus increases the contact area of the museum with the city, allowing a greater number of connections and urban routes. Access to the museum is modified, giving continuity to the outdoors exhibition space that goes across the building forming a large open main lobby. The parking is slightly buried, finding its space under a green roof. Given the new layout of the museum, thirteen new states of enclosure appear. We would like to integrate them along with the sculpture museum, transforming their design in another outdoor sculpture, while still defining the new spaces. In this way, content and container are valued together transforming urban routes into an integrated experience in the museum. 13 artists will have the opportunity to design the new “skins”.
2. DEHESILLAS BUILDING. The old sculpture museum is being redesigned and extended, seeking to open the hermetic character of the existing building by a clear movement in four stages:
PARTIAL DEMOLITION: the buildings which are obsolete or do not conform to current regulations are demolished. This decision seeks to achieve continuity of the outdoor park through the new museum.
THE GREAT HALL: building a new piece that will house temporary exhibitions. Thus, the central band becomes a large uncovered entrance hall in continuity with the park, sheltering outdoor sculptures. It is framed by both parallel two-storey wings and will be accessed through several points linking this space with the different parts of the program (lobby, shop, auditorium, sculpture store, access to the upper level of offices and classrooms...).
PARTIAL COVERING THE OLD YARD: designing a new permanent exhibition piece with the size of the old Dehesillas building courtyard, placed over the old building and bridging the width of the central strip. In order to allow light and crossed views, the volume must undergoes a cutting operation.
FINAL VOLUME: the permanent exhibition piece is stretched to cover the entire length of the entrance hall, generating varying gaps that allow ventilation, light and diagonal views within the new spaces. This volume is configured as a linear path that zigzags flying over the entire outdoor lobby. .
