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New Cyprus Museum

2A+P/A

An archipelago of buildings within a sea of trees.


Viewers are invited to take a virtual journey through the New Cyprus Museum in this video made by the project's designers, 2A+P/A. The video portrays a user's experience of the museum through a visual juxtaposition of physical model photography and animated cartoons, complemented by soft, ambient nature sounds and music.

The project, conceived as an inversion of a clearing, scatters buildings of the museum complex within a dense concentration of Mediterranean foliage. The video uses close-up photography of a physical model of the project to portray the user experience as one moves through the network of park paths. The video effectively uses lateral camera panning as the primary technique to reveal and withdraw built elements of the design. As the camera moves slowly, facing perpendicular to the paths, buildings momentarily enter the frame momentarily from one side before gliding to the opposite, where it exits. At times, buildings gain partial visibility through the dense body of trees, suggesting the deliberate blend of park, museum, and city beyond. Aerial views of the model enable a more comprehensive perception of the project, exposing the composition of these components in their context. They also allow the viewer to imagine the experience of the museum through the senses of an apparent protagonist in the video: a flock of birds.

Upon first impression, New Cyprus Museum is a seemingly disorganized assemblage of built and natural spaces. But as the video progresses through the sequence of curated moments, the observer can perceive the architects’ conceptual design strategy as it translates to a blend of urban zones.

(Story by Alex Petruso, The Architecture Player)

Credits

Architect: 2A+P/A
Mentioned project: New Cyprus Museum (2017)
Project location: Nicosia, Cyprus

Italy 2017
Duration: 1'49''