ANOTHER 250 words

Referring to my original post detailing my feelings about the building, I plan on heightening the relationship between knowledge and power, while maintaining the humanist element of the building. Upon reviewing my original feelings, it is evident that I feel the building is one that benefits very strongly from the interaction between the smooth, curved shapes, and the strong edges and corners that form the remainder of the building. The 2 almost seamlessly integrate, however, since the curves form more interesting shapes (to me, atleast) I find that these stand out, and I plan on building on this emphasis, making them the centrepiece of the architecture.

I plan on extending the building into either a C-Shape or a completely encompassing group of right-angled constuctions, while keeping, and strengthening the curve-linear shapes located in the centre. If possible, I will extend the curved shapes above the height of the rest of the building, in order to show the people on the street level the humanist element that the building has. Perhaps, in order to strengthen this element of the building I will turn the central area into a park, dominated by these shapes, replacing the existing ramps with a single curved path that only goes along the ground, through and around the buildings.

As far as location is concerned, I believe this buiding would fit well into a suburban context, with its formal exterior maintaining a strong integration with any typical architecture, but its interior constructions bringing a sense of uniqueness and harmony to the building. J. Sert states in his book, "9 Points on Monumentality" that a buildings monumentality comes from not only its size and lasting ability, but from its interaction with the spaces surrounding it, and its ability to represent the culture of the time in which it was built. It should stand for joy, pride and excitement for the society for which it was built. Furthermore, the building should make use of "Modern materials and new techniques...light metal structures; curved, laminated wooden arches: panels of different textures, colours, and sizes"
I believe Utzons building can do all this and more.

I will attempt to modernise the buildings materials, bringing in more metals, and colourful panels, especially on the exterior. By doing this I hope to make sure that despite a formally shaped facade, the building will still appeal to the human, creating an emotional response within them, and hopefully compelling them to explore the building.

References:
9 points on Monumentality, J. Sert et al., 1943, Published in France by

3 Image Captures

3 image captures of a faithful reinterpretation of Utzens original design documentation.

The images attempted to capture my interpretation of Utzens purpose for the building, as a medium that shows the synergy between humanist learning, and power.

3 Words

Knowledge - cognition: the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning


Organic - Organic describes forms, methods and patterns found in living systems such as the organisation of cells, to populations, communities, and ecosystems

Connection - a relation between things or events (as in the case of one causing the other or sharing features with it); "there was a connection between eating ...

10 Emotive Words

Fluidity
Knowledge
Power
Strong
Learning
Organic
Human
Connection
Striking
Interaction

250 words on feelings

The Silkeborg museum evokes feelings of fluidity, knowledge and power through the use of its striking cylinders and smooth curves, contrasting with its strong edges. The building, as implied by the initial sketches done by Utzen strongly proposes the hypothesis that power, and strength, can be gained from knowledge. This mantra is a suitable one for the museum, given that it is a place of learning and of knowledge.

The building consists of complex, organic shapes, which aid in putting forward Utzen’s vision for the building, as architecture which integrates with the human lifestyle, allowing interaction between the building and the people inside it to be on a more humanised level. This makes the chance that an average viewer will make an emotional connection with the building much higher, creating empathy and a stronger response to the architecture.

I believe this to be Utzens purpose in designing the building, to create something humanist, which proposes a strong correlation between the process of learning, knowledge itself, and power.

In terms of the materiality of the building, it is hard to say what Utzen intended for its construction, however, based on my interpretation of the building; I believe that wooden floors, coupled with striking brickwork would provide the intended humanist-power blend that integrates with the mood of the rest of the architecture.

As for re-interpretation of the building, sticking closely to the original designs during modelling in 3ds max, and then building on and subtracting details where they aid in building upon the knowledge/power relationship would be my preferred path of development