DRAPE
Museum under a landscape fabric
Partner: Anderson Barrera
The prompt was to design a museum for the AD White cast collection at Cornell. The site is a small green hill next to the Cornell Observatory. Preservation of both the site and sculptures were the central themes of the project. First, the excavation, then two retaining walls were inserted, and finally a complex triangular fabric-like structure drapes over the existing landscaping. Under the “fabric” is a large open space with three separate and unique paths for visitors to view the sculptures from radically different perspectives. The museum morphs into the existing two hills, and funnels visitors from the road upward to the observatory. It has an occupiable roof which acts as a bridge between the two hills, and provides a panoramic view to the campus.
Sectional Perspective
Renders
Models
