Ein Entwurf an der ETH Zürich, Professur J. Ll. Mateo

Situation

The position of the new museum in the centre of Stampa creates a new ensemble Atelier – Parents‘ House – Museum. The scale of the building is the one of the bigger houses in the village, so it fits perfectly in its pattern. The museum closes accurately the gap in the street of houses and densifies the space of the village. Towards the street a high wall encloses the building. On the other side there is a garden. Through the distance to the Atelier a small plaza is generated between the two buildings. The parking area is situated on the opposite side of the street.

Volume

The museum does not adopt one of the building types which are typical for the area – it is neither a resitdential house, nor a barn nor a palazzo. It is rather a sculpture or a crystal, which reminds of a building. Its monolithic appearance does not reveal the rich and compexe inner life.

Organization

The building is basically a system of suspended boxes, which allows numerous and complex light situations. A significant part of the house is situated underground. A person standing there feels like standing under the building. The permanent exhibition with sculptures, paintings and drawings is arranged there. The ground floor is the entrance and circulation area. Except for the reception hall there are only secondary rooms here. Temporary exhibitions take place on the two upper floors, which are accessable by the stairs or the elevator on the perimeter of the building.

Light

Light is actually the generator of the museum‘s space construction. In order to achieve appropriate but various lights from above, the spaces were interlaced. The basement floor is the brightest one with the light coming in throught the wide gap at the perimeter. The lightness accentuates its importance. The ground floor, as the less important one, is illuminated solely by artificial light. The upper floors are illuminated from above as well, but their light is filtrated by the translucent roof covering. The atmosphere is rather dark here, similar to the one of the Pius Church in Meggen by Franz Füeg.

Construction

The whole building is suspended on two armoured concrete joists, which are at the same time walls of the ground floor. The rest of the construction is made of rectangular steel profiles. The box of the second floor is fixated at the roof joists.

Materials

The palette of surfaces of the museum is based upon mineralic materials and metals. The façades, the roof and the bottom of the volume are covered with thin, translucent flagstones. The basement has rough surfaces – walls are roughly plastered, the floor covering is quartz. The surfaces of the upper floors are painted (together with the steel columns) in neutral white. The floorings are of flagstones in different dimensions.