Project Description
Patrimonio Futuro proposes a reactivation and expansion of the Juan Manuel Blanes Museum of Fine Arts, on the occasion of the celebration of its centenary. The work addresses the problem of heritage buildings and their contemporary uses, taking a position and proposing a possible course of action. The enhancement of preexistence, new ways of exhibiting, technological advances, versatility and flexibility of spaces; are some of the factors that enter into dialogue to generate a synergy that is favorable for the building and its program
The Blanes Museum is located in the Prado, a landscaped area of great historical relevance for the city and one of its main green lungs. It is a node of urban and metropolitan scale that has green, sports and recreation spaces, as well as a great variety of cultural proposals.
The building was originally designed as a casaquinta in 1870 by Ing. Juan Alberto Capurro, as a rest residence for the Raffo family.
Currently the museum works at the limit of its capacities. The exhibition area is only enough to exhibit 5% of its collection (of more than 4000 pictorial pieces and 200 sculptures). It does not have workshops or classrooms that allow visitors (approximately three schools per day); while alternative activities such as conferences, concerts or exhibitions should be held in the cloister, which was fitted out with a temporary skylight to be used throughout the year.
.The project aims to act on an existing space: the arcaded cloister. As already mentioned, today it has become a multi-purpose space in which various activities are carried out; but under strong spatial, acoustic and thermal restrictions.
It is the only exterior space of the building, where the axial axis ends and a strong link with the park is established.
The operation triples the existing cubic footage and makes it an editable space, capable of receiving different programs with multiple spatial configurations. The new volume “plugs in” on the back of the building, while the enveloping skin establishes a play of transparencies and opacities with it.
The image of the new building proposes from a formal and material perspective a counterpoint between the opaque and solid of the original building; and the lightness and permeability of the new expanded volume. This is achieved by choosing perforated metal panels that surround the glazed volume.
The encounter with the original work is resolved by means of glazed panels, creating a gap between both volumes. The curtain wall surrounds the structure, forming a glazed prism and reducing the carpentry to the minimum necessary; also providing a better thermal performance.
The structure is an intrinsic element of the proposal. Its behavior emulates that of a jib crane, leaning on the ground on massive pile heads and flying over the preexistence.
Stiffening core_ The loads are transmitted vertically to the ground through the core, which also houses the vertical circulations and the multi-height foyer. It has external cross tensioners -UPN160- that provide greater resistance and also receive the lateral thrusts caused by the wind.
Corbels_ They are made up of cross-linked beams in both directions. The main corbel has the necessary height to accommodate the technical floor; while its counterweight meets the roofed access of the building.
The different speeds at which disciplines such as the performing arts evolve, added to the constant technological advances; they force a permanent revision and adaptation of the architecture.
Due to this, the proposal does not pretend to be a definitive and closed solution, but rather to transform it into an infrastructure compatible with the demand for eventual future programs.
The multipurpose atrium is the space where all these concepts are synthesized, the meeting point between the architecture of almost a century ago and contemporary high-tech.
This “exhibition machine” works from a system of retractable slabs with adjustable heights and slopes that enables various spatial configurations; next to a technical cover that can be configured as a conventional stretch, or from which spotlights, curtains or screens can be hung. With variable capacity, the space can host multiple activities, such as conventional conferences, large-scale artistic interventions or contemporary theater plays, where the stage-audience boundary is diluted and the audience becomes part of the show.