A SCULPTURAL MUSEUM ADDITION

In this project, students were tasked with creating a museum addition to the Philadelphia Museum of Art using various physical and digital sculptural explorations from past assignments. In my case, my initial sculptural studies involved creating sculptures inspired by internal organs. Thus, I made my project a unique, internalized, and otherworldly experience within a monumental, organ-like growth emerging from the land adjacent to the PMA.

The main entrance to the museum-addition is located on the east side of the project, along the path toward the Fairmount Waterworks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The ground floor has a large open lobby space, with smaller reading and conference rooms on the side. A long ramp along the southwest wall of the project guides visitors down into the main exhibition space of the museum, housing carefully curated organic sculptural artworks. The entirety of the interior consists of amorphous, organic, curvilinear forms that seamlessly blend into one another; giving the space a unique character and outlandish atmosphere.

Upon entering the main spaces of the museum, visitors are transported to an unfamiliar, outlandish environment separated from the visual and acoustical distractions of the outside world. Sinew-like columns hold together the ceiling and floor, and vein-like protrusions sprawl along the walls, giving the feeling of walking inside an organ. Despite being an inward-looking project, external light is allowed into the exhibition spaces in a choreographed manner through crevices and openings in the ceiling.