Argentina Museum

A delicate non-obstructive approach for a museum, one which respects its context within a historic theater plaza. The existing plaza is a public circulation nexus where vital circulation corridors flow connecting neighbors, cultural districts, and public transportation access. The design respects the plaza and its role in the urban fabric. The first move was to sink the museum and embed it within the plaza and then gently slope the roof down to ground level activating it as a park to be occupied. Tunnels through the building preserve the major walking paths that played a critical role in the existing plaza. These tunnels offer a glimpse into the museum and invite those passing by to enter.

The museum is broken up by these cut-through paths and by a large courtyard that brings light into the now sunken museum. The trees in this courtyard can be experienced within the museum gallery as a series of trunks or on the roof where they read as bushes. Contrasting with the direct and efficient exterior public circulation, on the interior you walk along a curved path that centripetally pulls you through the gallery spaces.