Collaborator: Daniel Kirkby. Submitted: June 2017. Grade achieved: Distinction.
RIBA Silver Medal Nomination (2017) for Manchester School of Architecture // 3rd Prize in Mecanoo B.15 Modelmaking Award (2017).
Full portfolio available here.
Following the sale of artwork to the EU to fill the coffers of a Post-Brexit Britain, a fair distribution formula was created in order to spread this new cultural wealth across the member states. Hidden behind a conventional museum aesthetic in the Kulturforum, a new hybrid typology is formed whereby fine art storage needs dynamic and automated technologies to fulfil the fast and ever-changing distribution quotas.
Eight floors of storage ascend above a large basement that provides the space to sort and distribute all scales and quantities of works alongside a loading bay that feeds directly into the Tiergarten tunnel. Above, a plaza between the Kammermusiksaal and the EATKulturforum (European Art Transition Kulturforum) building gives space to public interaction with the transitional processes. From viewports that allow glimpses of the works while being inspected, the interaction evolves through the site, with a deep cut through the axis of the building allowing an overwhelming experience of commodification.
The exterior aesthetic is not only derived through museum typologies but also in order to help facilitate the interior conditions to accommodate fine art by utilising thermal mass through trombe walls to the southern faces. It is a building that emphasis its use of passive environmental strategies as far as possible.
Initial Intervention Proposal in collaboration with Talia Misan, BA Fine Art.
Vanessa Torri // Architectural Portfolio 