new spaces 10 EN

Ron Arad. With its elegant, gigantic curves of rusted steel, it is a sculpture in itself. The museum celebrates Israel’s secondlargest industrial park and at the same time distracts from it by focusing our attention on the beauty of everyday objects. “We wanted to create an icon that would make a lasting impression in people’s minds as soon as they see it,” explains Galit Gaon, the museum’s Creative Director. “We wanted a monument worthy of gracing a postage stamp!” Arad, who is celebrated for his sleek industrial designs, seems to have been the right man: whether it’s a coincidence or not, the perfume bottle he designed exclusively for Kenzo has the same cross struts as his new museum. In contrast to the Holon Museum, the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar actually houses a permanent collection. In order to showcase its impressive selection of manuscripts, textiles and ceramics from 13 centuries, the desert emirate wanted a modern building that wouldn’t emulate the Western-looking skyscrapers of downtown Doha. And so they chose a celebrated master builder with Chinese roots: I. M. Pei, famed for the Paris Louvre’s glass pyramid, among other works. In order to avoid having the museum smothered by surrounding skyscrapers, the 94-year-old architect declined all of the proposed sites in the city centre and opted for a coastal island instead. Like a cubist desert fort, the building seems to fl oat between the ocean and the sky, projecting pride in its cultural past and openness toward the future. Here too, stressed-out city dwellers are attracted to the sacred peace and emptiness of the interiors. Indeed, the art museums of today are similar to the castles, mosques and cathedrals of the past — and sometimes they even resemble fortresses, like Cidade da Cultura de Galicia Peter Eisenman’s design alludes to the medieval city structure of Santiago de Compostela. The cultural centre perches above the Spanish city like a castle. Peter Eisenman’s Cidade da Cultura de Galicia in Spain. Here visitors will be able to fi nd respite from the never-ending chatter of the information age and to enjoy a peaceful, protected environment that allows them to concentrate on a select number of themes. This renewed focus on spiritual tranquillity may explain why Japanese architects are in high demand today. Perhaps their Zen aesthetic imparts peace of mind to the visitors of these museums. As in the case of Kengo Kuma’s GC Prostho Museum in the prefecture of Aichi or Kazuyo Sejima’s Inujima Art House Project, invisible space is the most important design element in Japanese museum architecture. When Shigeru Ban’s off shoot of the Centre Pompidou in Paris was opened in Metz in May 2010, the museum’s director Laurent Le Bon expected to welcome 15,000 visitors per month. Today the museum attracts ten times as many visitors, and the architect is delighted. “I’ve been asked to expand the offi ces and restaurants,” he says. “But construction won’t begin for a while. That gives me a chance to build more museums in the meantime!” ¤ Further information www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/teshima-artmuseum/index.html www.mas.be/eCache/MIE/80/92/042.html www.mia.org.qa/english/ www.cidadedacultura.org/?lg=ing/ www.ronarad.co.uk/design-museum-holon/

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