"The Museum of Looping (topological) Paths"



The genesis of a “Museum” is a unique diagram. In this proposal, the diagram is ‘surface building’ within a building. An archetype composed by circulation within a museum and art containment. A novel relationship enfolding topology and Cartesian containment: Cartopological Space. One inhabits and experiences multiple topologies through both positive and negative spaces. The pochéd space and ‘positive and negative spaces’ of three enfolded spaces then constitute the building. The cognitive experience of the viewer provokes awareness of the possibility of a truly
multidimensional space, as opposed to a space limited by two dimensions (plan / section). This cognitive spatial relationship informs the experience of the viewer and results in a critique of the iconic image of a spectacular building. Architecture within architecture, or a building within a building, defines its topology. Architecture is thus a piece of art contained within a spatial topology.

"The Museum of Looping (topological) Paths"
 Spatial Concept: the Park's Winter Garden


The relationship between “city” and “park” resists any linear solution. In a typical contextual situation, a figurative building mimics the extension of the landscape, thus proposing a landform building. In this proposal, “city” and “park” enfold into one another, critiquing each other while using each other. The building becomes an extension of the park as an enfolded internal topology: displacing the Cartesian container. 

A Cartesian coordinate corner space establishes a reference, in relation to the city organization. This corner is displaced and its referential condition is surpassed by multiple interacting museum loops and spaces. The result is a three-dimensional diagram-space as the beginning of a multi-dimensional experiential space. Each coordinate (X,Y,Z) is displaced in its interior-exterior relationship, a looping space with a continuity and displacement of reference: inside-outside, a spatial flow in three coordinates. 

Program
Three loops define the exhibition program. Each loop articulates multiple building types that perfectly answer the functional complexity of a museum like the Guggenheim, with space for flexibility in the arrangements and proportions of each functional requirement.  All three loops are accessible from a single entry point at the northwest corner-tower typology, but also combine into a single loop or a separate loop.  The first loop is accessible from the west side of the city, proposing a direct access to the lobby/atrium laterally through public retail. This loop defines the upper perpendicular smaller flexible galleries, visually and experientially connecting the atrium and the glass-box building envelope, relating to the bay. The second loop is accessible from the north side of the city through the centralized control access, defining the larger longitudinal galleries. The third loop is mostly vertical, defining private/service circulation of the museum. This loop provides separate controlled access at the ground level to public programs and flexible rooms, the auditorium and laboratories, while defining offices and staff services access at the opposite extreme. 

Topology
The museum is a city within a city, or an environment that contains multiple environments. The idea of containment is critiqued each time there is spatial delimitation. The spatial reading of inside/outside is broken as spaces flow between city and lobby, the lobby and galleries and intermediate poched spaces. This topological space develops several poched spaces or positive-negative inversions. A single surface-envelope enfolds multiple times.