Gehry's Green Gallery

To those that appreciate good art and design, galleries send individuals back to their element, their personal nirvana. A place of peace where they can submerge themselves in the works and what it evokes within them. So why not redevelop one of the worlds most well know galleries so it matches this same nirvana that the works held within it flood into the space.

The Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry is an amazing well design presentation gallery. Its extrusions of odd shapes are alone an iconic piece of art that makes it recognisable around the world. That is why I have changed only the slightest design aspects of this icon to accommodate its major redevelopment in my new envisioned design, partial subterranean placement. This change brings many benefits to the gallery both in its aesthetic appeal and its practicality.

There has been a tremendous surge in “Green” architecture over the last few years and with good scientific reasons too. It’s irresponsible to redevelop any form of existing architecture without taking some of the developments in architectural and structural technologies into consideration. A good designer will even consider future technologies so the structure is already appropriate for them without the need for major renovations. Roofs with living vegetation on them is an ideal way to address many issue surround “green” architecture.

Although for some a mere patch of grass lost is considered an acceptable loss in the battle to keep our air clean it is quiet the opposite. More then 80% of the worlds carbon dioxide is recycled in simple plain old grass which makes it an absolute priority that all “green” architecture maintain and if not introduce more grass into a area. This is why submerging the Vitra Design Museum and allowing the surround field to grow and form a living vegetation roof is such an important global issue.

This concept will also have many great benefits for the structure. The grass atop the roof acts as an ideal from of natural insulation, actively cooling the building on hot days and maintains temperature on cold days. It’s the same principle as a rabbit’s warren only on a much larger scale. This will reduce the power consumption of the gallery by greatly decreasing the need for cooling and heating systems to be used. This of course reduces the all important carbon footprint of the building, which is undeniably, a great advantage of the design. The grass, along with a little help from some cleverly designed catchment systems, also acts as rainwater harvest. The collected rainwater can then be recycled into many aspects of the galleries utilities including clean sewerage water and landscaping purposes.

Aesthetically the redeveloped design does not detract from any of the previous designs eye catching attributes as these well recognised extrusions remain in the landscape from a distance appear and unique mounds and gullies in the exquisite simple terrain. As an individual approaches the extrusions become clear as a building and the concept materialises in their mind. The previous design developed feeling within one’s self about the sculptural aspects of the design, this update to the development is much more subtle on the impact it has as a sculpture but rather as a collection of sculptures on the landscape that happen to house a gallery underneath. To those within the architectural field it will be clear what has been done and the appreciated as fine design and those that merely come to visit a landmark although not with a clear understanding and interpretation of the structure will appreciate its uniqueness and quirks that separate it from most of the worlds public architectural icons