BIG, big architects, bjarke ingles, museum, architectural competition, competition, France, Montpellier, museum of human body, Cité du Corps Humain

BIG Architects won the competition for designing the Museum of Human Body in Montpelier, France. Le Cité du Corps Humain, as the project title is in French, is conceived as a confluence of the park and the city – or the nature and architecture – bookending the Charpak Park along with the Montpellier city hall. The urban pavement and the parks turf flow together in an embrace, while forming pockets of terraces, overlooking the park and elevating islands of nature above the city.

The form of the museum resembles the seismic fault line, and the architectural crusts of planet earth are lifted and mingled in order to form an underlying continuous space of niches and caves, lookouts and overhangs. The series of singular pavilions weave together to form a unified institution, almost as individual fingers united together in a grip.

The façade of the museum edifice is conceived as a sinuous membrane meandering across the site, delineating interior spaces and exterior gardens in a seamless continuum, oscillating between the city and the park. The roof-scape is an ergonomic garden – it is a dynamic landscape of vegetal and mineral surfaces that allow the visitors of the park to explore and express their bodies in various ways – from contemplation to the performance – relaxing and exercising – from the soothing to challenging. The envelopes are transparent as possible, and it maximizes he visual interaction with the surrounding. As the protection from thermal exposure is required, the design proposes to wrap the whole museum in a skin, tailored to the conditions of the local climate.

BIG, big architects, bjarke ingles, museum, architectural competition, competition, France, Montpellier, museum of human body, Cité du Corps Humain

BIG, big architects, bjarke ingles, museum, architectural competition, competition, France, Montpellier, museum of human body, Cité du Corps Humain

BIG, big architects, bjarke ingles, museum, architectural competition, competition, France, Montpellier, museum of human body, Cité du Corps Humain

BIG, big architects, bjarke ingles, museum, architectural competition, competition, France, Montpellier, museum of human body, Cité du Corps Humain

BIG, big architects, bjarke ingles, museum, architectural competition, competition, France, Montpellier, museum of human body, Cité du Corps Humain

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