Museum as a palimpsest
This proposal interprets the museum as a palimpsest with the extension being the most recent ‘layer’. The intervention is built optimally over the existing footprints. Such minimal intervention allows the ecological value of the site to be retained and rewrites the ad-hoc additions that undermine the universal value of the site.
At the masterplan scale, the proposal re-integrates the museum site with the larger landscape by regrowing the forest cover of the hill and reorganising the access to the Acropole. The museum extension thus becomes the threshold between the city and the Acropole. The landscape interventions rely on longer-term maintenance plans rather than immediate, large-scale construction.
The cathedral is framed from the UNESCO Square. This replaces the existing multiple entry points as the central and primary entrance. The curated path also begins here and then flows into an outdoor sculpture garden through a paved alley, before reaching the museum extension. This transitions into the permanent exhibition space in the existing L-shaped building which then opens out to a large patio reimagined as a Mediterranean garden. This serves as an outdoor space for events and temporary exhibitions. These shaded outdoor spaces reconfigure the landscape into a series of outdoor ‘rooms’ complementary to the built structures.
In this manner, the relationship between the built spaces and the landscape are rethought and the site’s hidden historic ‘layers’ unveiled. The buildings to the south and west of the patio are removed while the structures to the north of the L-shaped building are repurposed as the museum’s administrative and storage spaces. The latest ‘layer’ of the museum is a single storeyed extension of the L-shaped building. Its positioning integrates the existing fragments of the site, unifying the old and new. This is reiterated in the way it connects the Eucalyptus alley to the south and the patio to the north through a semi-open transition space. The museum extension accommodates Father Delattre’s room, housing the restaurant, café and the museum shop. On the other side of the Cardo Maximus, are the library (with an adjoining shop) and the public workshop. The auditorium and the research centre are placed in the basement of the western wing of the museum extension.
The museum extension is contemporary in form, material and structure. The structure’s physically detachment from the L-shaped building demarcates the new from the old. The extension is perceived as a pavilion with white concrete columns and glass partition walls. The top datum of the pavilion references the storey height of the cathedral while its two parts on either side of Cardo Maximus follow the structural rhythm of the cathedral and the L-shaped museum respectively. The use of white concrete makes it cost-effective and low maintenance.