Chandigarh Capitol
SP_2016 | Work from Jose Oubrerie's Vertical Studio

The project was to design the Museum of Knowledge - the last piece to Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh Master Plan. The proposed Knowledge Museum focuses on the surrounding Himalayas and Shivalik Hills, both in terms of history and current environmental changes. Acting as a tool to recognize and reveal the site, the museum gathers and orients the space of the landscape through large openings and man-made terrains within the building.
 
A knowledge museum for the residents of Chandigarh, the project is made up of open-ended, continuous spatial containers that allow for exchanges between the interior and exterior, the built and the geological. The project acts as a tool for recognizing and revealing the site by gathering in and orienting the space of the landscape, both in geological and urban terms. Overlayed systems of exchange, circulation, and site conditions mimic a museum’s modes of sharing and discovering knowledge. Programmatic possibilities are explored through the creation of artificial terrain as building. The Knowledge Museum does not try to mimic the legacy of Le Corbusier, but instead opens itself up to its surrounding neighbors, both man-made and natural.

The project began with an investigation of a cube. Could a “cube” be formed from six unique volumes and retain its innate qualities? In this instance the “cube” was forged by five disparate volumes. The shadow of a sixth volume punctured a large opening through all other volumes, opening up new spatial qualities while also spurring new moments of connection between all forms.