The Best of GRReporter
flag_bg flag_gr flag_gb

Bernard Tschumi for GRReporter

22 May 2011 / 21:05:17  GRReporter
7489 reads

Anastasia Balezdrova 

World famous architect and professor at Columbia University in New York Bernard Tschumi is one of the creators of the new Acropolis Museum. For GRReporter readers he spoke about his latest project and the challenges that architects face very often. 

Tell us about the project in France, on which you are working at the moment. 

I hope that it will be a beautiful project. It is smaller than the Acropolis Museum, almost half of its size. But I believe it is a very interesting and beautiful project, and I am proud of it. Its concept is different. I'm not from those architects who do the same things every time. I develop my concept for each particular location. 

Barriers against the building of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens were quite a bit. There were problems with the demolition of some buildings; protest actions by citizens; the size of the construction site was reduced by a court order. How would you comment on all this today after the museum is a fact? 

Look, every building has its limitations. Every architect must be aware that he is not a sculptor or poet and he is not able to work alone in his studio or at home. An architect is surrounded by many things that restrict him, but he must learn to work within the set boundaries and even to derive advantages from them. 

The restrictions were not related only to the archaeological site or the buildings around it. There were also restrictions due to the likelihood of an earthquake, restrictions caused by change in weather conditions. All of the above helped us to be very clear about our decision. And this decision was to take the best of all restrictions. This is architecture. 

According to some of your fellow Greek colleagues the museum building would have been very different if you were available to use the whole plot. Is that so? 

I do not think the building would have been completely different. The principle of three levels, one of which is devoted to the archaeological site, the second - to the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and the middle would have looked the same. I'm sure the top part would have been also the same. Maybe there would have been slight differences but I do not think the building would have varied greatly. 

Bernard Tschumi visited Athens to participate in the scientific symposium on "The Museum of the Acropolis - Ideology, museology, architecture”, which was held in the building of the Benaki Museum on Piraeus Street. In his lecture titled "Conceptualizing Context”, he explained the importance of the surrounding environment in pursuit of an architectural idea. "The Museum of the Acropolis is very different from the museum of modern art in Bilbao, because it has history as a starting point. It is different from the pyramid, built to link the royal palace at the Louvre. In this case we have a separate building that exists. The New Acropolis Museum is very different from the building of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which was built in order to bring together different cultures with the passage of years." 

The Columbia University Professor also presented several of his works, which clearly show the way in which he and his team have built museums in harmony with the surrounding buildings. "Originally a demolition of an old building was planned in Tourcoing in order to build a new center of contemporary art in its place. When I took a closer look though, I saw that it was part of the overall architecture of the area. So we decided to restore it using almost archaeological manner and to cover it with an umbrella-like roof. This way, huge spaces between the new and the old roof of the old building were created, in which artists can create freely. The result at Le Fresnoy does not imitate the past but creates a dialogue between the old and new. 

In Sao Paulo Bernard Tschumi was challenged because he had to design a museum of contemporary art, so that it would not differ from the appearance of the big and busy city. "Our goal was for visitors to be able to view the exhibits and also to have a direct connection with the city, which lies outside. This detail exists also in the New Acropolis Museum.” 

The project, on which the world famous architect is working at the moment, is the museum and archaeological park in Burgundy. It is dedicated to the Battle of Alesia - the decisive battle in the late summer of 52 BC between Julius Caesar and the Gauls. The winner is Caesar and his victory strengthens the Roman reign in Gaul for centuries, but paradoxically, as Bernard Tschumi says, the Frenchmen believe this loss to be the starting point of the French nation creation. "Although all traces of war were erased, the new museum recreates the battlements and the trenches and actually recreates the battle.” Used for the construction were the typical for the time materials such as wood and stones, which were part of the foundations of the original buildings. "The use of materials is a very important part of the work of an architect.” The building is round, because the goal of Bernard Tschumi is to provide visitors a view of the surrounding mountains where were the fortifications of the Romans. Trees will be planted on it, which will play the role of military camouflage. 

Tags: Architecture Bernard Tschumi New Acropolis Museum Athens Parthenon
SUPPORT US!
GRReporter’s content is brought to you for free 7 days a week by a team of highly professional journalists, translators, photographers, operators, software developers, designers. If you like and follow our work, consider whether you could support us financially with an amount at your choice.
Subscription
You can support us only once as well.
blog comments powered by Disqus