Practices about Site: Reflecting on the design of the Museum of Liverpool Fig 01. The Museum of Liverpool Picture from official website of the 3XN Yuan Chen 100202902 MAAD University of Sheffield 4th May, 2011
The interests of the Museum of Liverpool This paper explores the role of site analysis during an architectural design, based on a newly build project, the Museum of Liverpool, which was designed by the Danish architectural practice 3XN. What the project of Liverpool Museum attracts interest lies in several respects. First of all, the Museum of Liverpool is housed at the core of Liverpool's world-famous waterfront, UNESCO World Heritage Site, in between the Albert Dock and Pier Head. Next to the site are Liverpool s most famous buildings, nick-named the Three Graces: the Royal Liver Building, 1911, the Cunard Building, 1916 and the Port of Liverpool Building, 1907. The important location will surely make the design of the building visually sensitive no matter what the outlook of the building would be. Fig 02. The Three Graces. Secondly, the new Museum of Liverpool is the largest newlybuilt national museum in Britain for more than a century, according to its official website. The building footprint occupies an area 110 metres long by 60 metres wide and at its tallest point it is 26 metres high The museum's frame is constructed with 2,100 tonnes of steel The museum is clad in 5,700 Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 2
square metres of natural Jura stone 7,500 cubic metres of concrete (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/about/building.aspx Access: 20/04/2011) The large size and the high construction price make itself remarkable and critical to the public. At the same time, despite of all kinds of criticism, the building received a range of professional awards, including: Miami + Beach Bienal 2006, Silver Medal; IDA Award 2008, Best Urban Design; Scottish Design Awards 2010, Engineering Design. 3XN architects won the international competition for the Museum of Liverpool in January 2005. The practice has attracted more and more attention in recent years. And it is one of the most internationally renowned and successful Danish architectural practices today. The new Museum of Liverpool will open to public in July 2011. The landscaping and site works are still carried out around the building. However, the relationship between the site and completed building can be well perceived during this period. The designers approaches Undoubtedly, it was a big challenge for 3XN to do this design, especially to solve the problems about the site. It is interesting to look into how the designers did the site survey, how they had coped with the complicated site problems, and how functional their proposals were. The portfolio book of 3XN architects, Investigate, Ask, Tell, Draw, Build which was edited by Matteo Cainer introduces their strategies during the design process. That included two respects. One is about the designers attitudes towards the design, another is about their practical working methods. As the introduction of the Museum of Liverpool has been put into the first chapter of the book, Investigate the site, 3XN Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 3
regarded the project as an outcome from a site analysis. We develop the existing circumstances, which results in the site being part of our conceptualisation of our project, instead of just creating an icon for a site. ( Investigate, ask, tell, draw, build, P.14) Several working methods were used in site investigating. One important of them is travelling around the city by foot and by public traffic. They wanted to use this method to experience how people approach the site and how they reach to it and how the site felt like. It is essential for them to understand the relationship between the site and the city. The process became functional. Not only does it play with the flow lines and respect the views throughout the area, but it immediately addressed the users. ( Investigate, ask, tell, draw, build, P.22) As a direct result, their initial proposal was going to take the form of a bridge. They wanted the building stated to function as a connection between the two main routes through the city. Fig 03. Natural link between the two main routes. Picture from the book Investigate, ask, tell, draw, build. Another important method used by the designers is making physical models and 3D models to explore the shape of the building, which seemed more regular. But according the book, they had made more than 30 models during the period of site Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 4
survey. They used the models to study various possible structures and to better understand the interrelations between the site and the flows. The model below showed the designers idea about link (Fig 04). They set up the aim that the building would enable people to pass through without having to integrate into it. For some, it will function as a connecting tool only; others will be engaged by the displays. The shape of the building gradually came out from these models. Fig 04. 3D model of the bridge conception. Picture from the book Investigate, tell, draw, build. ask, A main design philosophy of 3XN is that architecture is storytelling. We listen to the story the site is telling us. They talked to public, asked people questions to try to find the story the building should tell. They also drew a lot of sketches to make comparison, and survey about the infrastructures. All the methods together made them analysis the site in more depth. On another hand, 3XN focused their design on communication with the clients very much. Considering the client s desires is a point of start of their design process. Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 5
In this project, they realized two main desires of the client. One was that the client really wanted a building that would be new and bold. The other thing was that the client wanted a museum that people could start from the center of the building and choose their own routes to visit. As a result, a large building with modern look should be put into the site where was surrounded by all traditional buildings. And they needed to create a central area for the inside space. That seemed a little conflict with their flow idea. Meanwhile, the 3XN believed that architecture shapes behaviour. In this project, they tried to create places where people could interact and communicate and where synergy could grow. And they wanted the building to be a place for people eyeing the city. Being a city history museum, it seemed obviously to create visual connections between the city and museum make the city itself an exhibition. ( Investigate, ask, tell, draw, build, P.32) This idea enabled them to make the façade see-through and provide some framing views. Once again, it was a question of dealing with the site. Moreover, as their important design approach, the 3XN designers also stated thinking about the details and materials to be harmony with the surrounding. They realized the fact that the Three Graces had very detailed facades, so they had to carefully elaborate their façade as well. And as the outlook of the building would be sculptural, the choice of materials then became extremely important. They drew façade sketches and made façade mockups in 1:20 to 1:1 scales. They tested and explored the pattern, colour and different type of materials at an intimate scale. And they used this method to make decision of choosing materials. The final chosen colour of natural stone corresponded to those of the Three Graces. And the pattern was that refers to the overall nexus scheme of the building layout. Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 6
Field perception As mentioned in the above paragraphs, the 3XN designers used a range of innovative approaches to explore and deal with the unique site within this project. Have they finally realized their ambitions? Is the constructed building actually harmony with its site? To evaluate the design outcome, a field survey with close observations and intimate perceptions is needed. The method used to evaluate the building is following the routes mentioned by the designer to get to the building so that to get the perception while approaching the site. As shown by the picture below (Fig 05), there are three main routes toward to the site. As the site is west to the city center, most people will come from the east. So, some people will come along the waterfront to reach the site (as Route 1 and Route 2), some will come from east straightly (as Route 3). Fig 05. Routes approaching the site. Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 7
Fig 06 shows the visual impact of the building from Route 1. People come from the south side along the waterfront. The building faces the Albert Dock in this direction. So it should be the most popular route. As a fact, the new Museum of Liverpool doesn t provide a good visual experience. Seen from this point of view, the large modern building the Museum of Liverpool is sitting between the traditional styled Three Graces and the reserved building - former Museum of Liverpool Life (which is in front of the new Museum of Liverpool in the photos). It breaks the skyline and makes it ambiguous, inelegant. And the expected flow line seems not so smooth from this way. Fig 06. View from Route 1. Fig 07 shows the view from Route 2 - northern direction, facing the public promenade flow along the Docks. Seen from this direction, the new Museum of Liverpool is not so close to the historic buildings. So its impact on surrounding is less from this view. But it is interesting to find out that the new Museum of Liverpool is not the only modern building in this site. There are two other newly built buildings prominently adjacent to it a huger scaled commercial building named Mann Island with all black façades and the building of Mersey ferries. Obviously, the modern building group has become a significant part among this UNESCO World Heritage Site. And it could be expected that the modern part will become greater in the near future. So what should be concerned is not only the relationship between the new Museum and the historic buildings, but also Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 8
the interaction between these new modern buildings. Unfortunately, they do not have a harmonious co-existence in this site. Fig 07. View from Route 2. Fig 08 shows the view from Route 3. If a visitor comes from the railway station, he would follow this flow line. From this direction, the modern buildings become even more dominant. There is not a smooth visual transition from the historic buildings to the modern buildings. And the new Museum of Liverpool seems too close to the Mann Island and is nearly hidden by it. Fig 08. View from Route 3. Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 9
In turns of details and materials, the pattern and colour of the stones on the facade do not conflict with surrounding, and look innovative and lively. The rhombic stone units make up a delicate skin of the building which is responding to the theme of water. But generally speaking, the details of the skin do not contribute much to make the whole shape of the building better into the environment. In another word, the details look elaborate within a single building, but have not the ability to change the impact from the sculptural building. Fig 10. Detail of the façade. Picture from official website of the 3XN Conclusion and Evaluation Although the efforts made by the 3XN designers were theoretically functional and reasonable, the constructed building seems not so match their original expectations as a smooth nexus perceived by a field surveying. Various causes led to this outcome. Practically, designers theoretical site - analysis would be affected by other more factors, such as the influences from those new buildings which had been neglected or were not expected at all in the period of design. As seen from their original design rendering drawings, the new Museum of Liverpool was the only modern building within the site. The designers had studied a lot about the historical building, but did little about the new buildings. Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 10
Another reason is related to the building s large scale. It was really hard to control such a big building by a simple modern style. Rem Koolhaas illustrated the architectural phenomenon of Bigness (or the problem of Large). It seems incredible that the size of a building alone embodies an ideological program, independent of the will of its architects. ( S, M, L, XL, 1997, P.496) Not only the building is big, the outside open space is big as well. The building looks dominant in the site rather than being modest. To a big project like the Museum of Liverpool, a physical model or 3D model was greatly helpful to do studies, but an intimate field experience would be more essential in every phase of the design. Also, the client s desires and requirement, the budget, the decisions during the process all greatly influenced the design. Some people even criticized about that the chosen site to build the new Museum of Liverpool itself was a mistake. And they did the design within a very limited time. Once we had won the competition, the project started moving at a very fast pace ( Investigate, ask, tell, draw, build, P.34) Essentially, the 3XN architects did the design under the context of globalization. Globalization means speed and convergence. It is interesting to see that the layout of the Museum of Liverpool is so similar to its adjacent two modern buildings, to a certain extent. (Fig 10 and Fig 11) Fig 10. The Museum of Liverpool and the building of Mersey ferries. Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 11
Fig 11. The Museum of Liverpool and the Mann Island. But the question is how we should treat the convergence. As Rem Koolhaas said in his book S, M, L, XL, What are the disadvantages of identity, and conversely, what are the advantages of blankness?... To the extent that identity is derived from physical substance, from the historical, from context, from the real, we somehow cannot imagine that anything contemporary made by us contributes to it. ( S, M, L, XL, 1997, P.1248) Still, the design of the Museum of Liverpool is instructive. The designers approaches to explore the potentially good design were innovative and helpful. Their design principles were based on the site surveying. And they explored the harmony between the site and the building in different scales from a city scope to the flow lines and to the materials and details. In spite of some minor considerations, the design conceptions of Nexus and Eyeing the city made the building attractive and dynamic. References Matteo Cainer. Investigate, ask, tell, draw, build - 3XN architects (Black Dog Publishing Limited, London, 2007) Rem Koolhaas. S, M, L, XL (Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH, 1977) Official website of 3XN: http://www.3xn.dk/ Official website of the Museum of Liverpool: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/ Practices about Site, Yuan Chen 12