by: Jessica Sheridan Assoc. AIA LEED AP
Event: Bernard Tschumi and Leo Argiris: Conceptual and Technical Issues — the New Acropolis Museum
Location: Center for Architecture 06.07.07
Organizers: The Hellenic-American Technical Society; AIANY Cultural Affairs Committee
Speakers: Bernard Tschumi, AIA, Director, and Joel Rutten, Project Director — Bernard Tschumi Architects; Leo Argiris, PE — ARUP
Introduction: George Leventis, PE — board member, Hellenic American Technical Society
Sponsors: Arup; Hunter Roberts; Langan Engineering & Environmental Services; Thornton Tomasetti; Koutsomitis, Architects; M.A. Angeliades
The New Acropolis Museum is situated at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
Bernard Tschumi Architects
Designing a museum for the Parthenon Marbles frieze at the foot of the Acropolis is no small feat, as Bernard Tschumi Architects with engineers from Arup discovered — especially when the proposed site is already filled with 2,000-year-old artifacts. Furthermore, to get the New Acropolis Museum built, navigating the politics — ever-changing building codes, archaeologists, and local politicians — added a new realm of complication.
To avoid destroying the ancient street grid and remaining walls (and to placate the archaeologists), the building is constructed as a column grid with two parallel structural cores. The curtain wall of the top floor and the floor slabs are supported by and cantilever from these structural members. The large, cast-in-place concrete columns accommodate the structure and potential seismic loads. As they reach the ground, they also straddle ancient walls by separating into a tripod of smaller columns. The beams spanning over the remains are infilled with glass so visitors can view the artifacts as they walk above them on the first level.
The circulation of the building is a three-dimensional loop providing a temporal experience. After crossing lower-level ruins, viewers enter a double-height trapezoidal gallery for art from the Archaic period to the Roman Empire, and end their visit at a glass-enclosed gallery. With facilities located in the interior cores, the open grid of the trapezoidal gallery allows a maximum amount of flexibility for exhibitions.
The New Acropolis Museum constantly references the ancient Acropolis. Both the east-west orientation and the column spacing mimic that of the Parthenon. The glass-enclosed gallery housing the Parthenon Marbles, with a suspended curtain wall, is just above the Athens roofline allowing uninterrupted views of the Acropolis. Because of its nature, visitors can view the frieze, which was once attached to the Parthenon, with a maximum amount of natural light. Gradated, fritted glass helps protect the art and shelter visitors from the heat.
Much of the museum aligns with other Bernard Tschumi, AIA, projects and theories. He superimposes the existing city grid around the perimeter of the site, the ancient street grid of the ruins, and the east-west axis of the Parthenon. He emphasizes movement through the building, sequence of space and time. According to the Project Director, Joel Rutten, the New Acropolis Museum could be the ultimate Tschumi of Tschumi projects. And considering its location and subject matter, designing a source at the source is very appropriate.