Recently, the Dundee City Council picked six entries for the shortlist of their previously hosted V&A at Dundee competition which called for designs of a new centre for art and design in Scotland. One of these six was the scheme put forward by the New York-based office, REX. Set up as a spokes-around-hub system, the museum/education centre’s circulation will lie within an outer shell of crystalline-formed mirrored glass.
Courtesy of REX
The form is basically that of a pyramid turned on its point. This reduces the footprint of the structure as well as allowing the building to self shade. During summer months, the building’s extending form shades from direct light while catching reflected light from the water which surrounds it along four of the five facets. These facets no only serve as contributors to visual and formal qualities, but also a secondary structure in the form of diagonal peripheral columns.
Courtesy of REX
Within the faceted pyramid, four main levels exist. The first level is meant for marshaling, congregating and meeting prior to progressing further into the crystalline form. Above this is a civic level, then an educational level, and finally an exhibition space on the top level. These specific spaces locate around a central core of lifts, fire stairs, MEP, and WCs. Lying amongst the defined galleries are interstitial spaces meant to act as free-form locales with no set function and thus able to be adapted to daily needs.
