Case Study: Entrance Pavilion of the National Museum of Medieval Art, Bernard Desmoulin, 2018
28 rue de Sommerand, 75005 PARIS, Metro Cluny-La Sorbonne
This four-page essay analyzes the entrance pavilion of the National Museum of Medieval Art (or The Cluny Museum, designed by architect Bernard Desmoulin and opened in 2018. You must personally visit the exterior and interior of the building to explore how the design of the modern entrance pavilion responds to a variety of practical and aesthetic concerns.
Desmoulin’s pavilion was the culmination of a renovation of the entire Cluny Museum. The museum is a highly complex site that joins three different buildings, each set on a different level and dating to vastly different architectural periods. These include: a 2000-year old Roman bath, a late fifteenth-century medieval mansion, and a nineteenth-century addition to the mansion. To make matters more complicated, the entrance pavilion is itself set atop a protected archaeological site that could not be disturbed.
Desmoulin’s pavilion was designed to facilitate access to each of the museum’s structures. It was also designed to express the identity of the museum, its two-thousand year architectural patrimony, and its collections. Your assignment is to think about how this building satisfies the museum’s practical needs while creating a unique visual language to express its identity.
Do not do any research for this paper. You do not need any background information and you do not need to use any specialized architectural vocabulary. I am more interested in your own observations, how you describe what you see, and how you organize those observations in a clear and concise essay. You are encouraged to work in groups on this project. Visit, discuss, and draw the building together. However, your written work must be your own.
Your paper must be submitted in hard copy form (1-inch margins, 12-point font, NYTimes Roman). Your paper must include images that illustrate particular points of your argument. The images should appear at the end of the paper, be referred to in your text, and are not included in the page-count. The images must be your own and not taken from the internet. Your paper must also be accompanied by your own hand sketches of the elevation, a section, and plan. Illustrations and sketches are not graded. Drawing helps you look closely and to keep track of your observations, in order to knit them back into a general analysis of the building.
You must also include a peer-reviewed draft annotated with a classmate’s substantive comments. When reviewing each other’s written work, point out where ideas are confusing or where they need to be further developed. Make sure that the author’s ideas and observations are supported by concrete evidence from the building. You are responsible for making sure you get the feedback you need. When hesitating between grades, I often turn to the marked-up draft to verify that you integrated your classmates’ comments.
Your paper will analyze the following aspects of the building. Whenever possible describe specific details of the building to illustrate your argument.
PROGRAM What purposes does this section of the building fulfill? What must Desmoulin’s pavilion accomplish?
SITE What are the limits and potential of the building site? What aspects of the site had to be taken into account and how did those impact the final design?
CONTEXT What are the surroundings of the building? Does the design respond to the specific context of the Cluny complex and of its location in the city?
EXTERIOR Describe the building exterior. How are the volumes (massing) of the building arranged? What are the materials used, and to what effect? What is the overall impact of the exterior and what does the architect communicate through their design choices ?
PLAN How is the building arranged to accommodate its functions? How do the various functions of available space determine the plan?
SPATIAL AESTHETICS What are the distinct spatial experiences created by Desmoulin in the pavilion? How do they shape the experience of the visitor?
CIRCULATION How does the building facilitate your access to the museum? How does the architect cue you to move into and through the building?
MATERIALS What types of materials are used throughout the building? What visual or other effects do they create? Why do you think they were chosen?
CONCLUSION Offer your reader a cogent analysis of the architect’s vision for this new entrance pavilion. Why do you think the building takes the form we see before us? How does it express the identity of the museum as an institution and as a place?
Hi, if you choose to write this essay thank you. you can choose which pictures go best with everything, no need to do all of them. please message me if you have any questions. thanks again.