dgj006 Spacesuit Technorama Wintertur, Winterthur, CH , 2000

 

The Space Suit project suggests a second skin for the Technorama, capable of organizing the visitor flow as well as the exchange of information and phenomena between the inside and the outside. It contains all technical and visitors’ infrastructures that are required to support the museum. At the same time its media communication reacts to internal and external processes, operating like a display that projects what is happening and exhibited in the museum to the outside.

In Between: The Space Suit explores the in-between condition that is neither inside nor outside. Its space is dynamic, animated by the movement of the visitors and the flow of information between the inside and the outside. The transition becomes an articulated process and space.

Orientation: The second skin is an interface between inside and outside. By partially penetrating the existing façade, a sense of orientation is introduced in the exhibition spaces: the circulation system is visible from inside and outside, and establishes a connection of the space inside the museum and the landscape outside.

Circulation: Accessing the building on a huge ramp that connects the landscape with the interior, the visitors find the information desk to the right. An escalator transports the visitor to the third floor. On a generous platform with the cash desks, the groups can gather and wait. A bridge connects the platform with the lecture spaces.

Lunch platform: Parallel to the escalator, a ramp system has been installed, which incorporates patches of soft landscapes. These patches can be used to sit down and have a picnic during lunchtime. In the façade, mobile showcases that contain small exhibits from the exhibition move around. Their movement is triggered when people move on the ramps. At the same time, they make the visitors curious, and provoke movements of the visitors on the ramp. 
The movement of the mobile showcases and the visitor is perceived as a spatial choreography behind the huge glass façade from outside.

Shop: The shop is part of the internal infrastructure of the Space Suit. It is a triple high space that contains the shelves and cash desk on the ground floor. When the visitors access the exhibition on the third floor or change from floor to floor in the exhibition, they cross that vertical space that has parts of the circulation in it, looking down into the shop.

project period 06/2000 - 10/2000
useMuseum. Exhibition, Representative. Trade Fare
address Technoramastraße 1, Winterthur
floor area 2,200 m²
building volume 8,900 m³
budget 4.5 Mio. CHF
price 5. Price
commissioner Technorama Winterthur
commissionCompetition
project partner: Paul WK Lee
project status: Awarded Competition Entry