Kengo Kuma is not hesitant to incorporate local context-specific materials into his modern designs. In the ArtA Cultural Centre competition, where firms such as BIG, SO-IL, and NL Architects also participated, Kuma introduced his proposal wrapped with a red clay roof tile screen.
The city's objective was to unite a museum and the Focus Film Theatre into a single structure, aiming to rejuvenate the locals' connection with the Rhine River. In response, Kuma presented a design that spoke two visual languages - one that seamlessly blends into the cityscape and another that flows towards the river.
In many ways, the building extends the public piazza right from the street by offering stepped platforms that frame new vistas of the Rhine River. Moreover, it heightens the dialogue between the visitor and the waterscape ahead by introducing pools of water that bring all these seemingly fleeting elements into consciousness.
So the façade facing the city centre is in terms of scale a typical urban block - with a double volume at the entry plane and straightforward levels. On the river's edge, however, the building is a series of jagged terraces that bring in individual panoramic experiences for the subject at a more comfortable human scale.
With the introduction of green terraces and waterscape along Newstraat, which can be perceived as a 'community garden' within the urban context, the architecture takes here a ‘landscape form’ relating itself, thus, to the river and to the landscapes surrounding the area and the city.
Most successful architectural designs usually feature a space that combines all major programs. This space is sometimes as important, if not more important, than the master spaces. In this ArtA Cultural Centre proposal, it would have been easy to demarcate the museum functions from the Focus Film Theatre functions.
Instead, the design is done so that these main functions spill into one another, creating the heart of the design: the Art Square. Other servant spaces, such as lecture rooms and artist-in-residence studios, are arranged around the Art Square. Whereas such a space would have obviously been a lobby, it serves as an essential linkage and offers flexibility for multiple functions.
The filigree of red clay roof tiles responds to the interior functions of the building. With the museum's permanent collection located at the topmost level, the sun-shading screen densifies towards the top.
On the other hand, the Art Square at the ground level calls for lots of daylight, so consequently, the screen is sparse and excluded altogether at this level. Interestingly, the third floor is punctured on one end to create a double-volume space for temporary exhibitions requiring such a scale.
The film functions are mainly placed on the lower floors. With the building likely to be used at night for film screenings, it became necessary to make these spaces easily accessible from the ground level. Towards the river, an extensive stairway serves both as a passageway to the river deck and as an amphitheater.
For special events, people could sit here and watch a movie being projected on a floating stage on the Rhine River! An interplay of levels and voids creates interesting opportunities for diagonal views from various building parts. This is probably what makes this proposal successful in its own right. Despite not being the winning entry, it engages the subject in intriguing ways to simultaneously experience the program, the city, and the river.
Project Information
Architects:
Kengo Kuma & Associates
Location: Meijnerswijk, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Client: City of Arnhem
Design Team: Kengo Kuma, Yuki Ikeguchi, Maria-Chiara Piccinelli, Maurizio Mucciola, Miruna Constantinescu, Mariko Kobayashi, Titouan Chapouly
Area: 8 400 sqm
Photographs: Kengo Kuma & Associates
