Barely Grounded

This project was a steel competition entry. If you have to ask, I did not win. However it did win me an honor award of some sorts at school. It is a museum to house a private collection of 20th century arts.

The site is located right next to the serene Menil Collections in the Houston Museum district. The lot is vacant but with beautiful green lawn and striving oak trees, it serves as an urban retreat for the community.

The objective is to design a building that will accomodate existing eco-scape and social activities taking place on site. The shape of building seems arbitrary, but in fact it is derived from the effort to simplify circulation though building/exhibition, preserve existing ground conditions, express material characteristic, as well as maximize controlled penetration of natural light.

Composed of prototype structural modules, the result is a light weight snaking tube that hovers above ground. The often sculptural and industrial quality of 20th century arts are reflected on the museum building.