The Musèe des Confluences will open this year, at the junction of the Rhone and Saône rivers. Not only will it be located at the confluence of two rivers, but its content will be located at a thematic confluence as well, the intersection of science and society. That's where the gorgeously bizarre design comes in. Coop Himmelb(l)au refers to their design concept as the "crystal cloud of knowledge," which kind of sounds like something a crazy person would say on Breaking Bad but also makes a kind of brilliant sense as you scan through the project descriptions.
The Crystal is to be a giant, luminescent public square where visitors can stop and socialize as they enter the museum. The designers envision this as a kind of hybrid space, part of the museum while also acting as a public space within the city. More on this later.
Exhibits, teaching spaces and offices will be housed in the Cloud portion of the building. Skimming the website shows us some pretty awesome exhibit concepts: a symbolic approach to the origins of Man and the Universe, a biological exhibit showing our place in the ecosystem, an examination of how humans conceptualize Death and why we constantly push its boundaries. In short, the entire existence of human society, from birth to death, told through a multidisciplinary scientific lens. Whoa.
The reason this museum has the potential to be so special is because of the way it blends form and function. The building design beautifully expresses the blended concepts of society and science. I've often been fascinated by interior design, architecture, landscaping art and similar mediums because of the way we can immerse ourselves in an art object. Photographs and videos can never quite capture the feeling of moving around inside a gigantic piece of art like this museum. Truly skilled architects (and Coop Himmelb(l)au is one of the world's premiere firms) create unique experiences through the use of their structures. From the video and photos available, we can see how masterful the manipulation of light, space and form will be when the museum is complete. Add in the concept of the Crystal as an extension of public, municipal space within the museum and we can see how this building will not only curate exhibits, but also generate four-dimensional explorations of those same confluences.
Who wants to meet me there this summer?
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