Alexandra G. De Leon

PAPER FLOWS, URBAN FLOWS
Cultural
A museum enhancing both indoor and outdoor experiences, nurturing walkability within the cityscape of Andorra, and creating spaces that encourage interaction among visitors, residents, and staff.
This project is the entry to the 2024 120 hours student competition, the task was to create a National Art Museum for the city of Andorra based on the 2008 competition in which architects Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, Dominique Perrault, Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster participated.



The program overview included an entrance and reception area, exhitibion rooms, lecture and multi-purpose hall, and classrooms. These were accommodated in two separate masses with the intention to connect the two volumes through underground spaces. The mass is drawn from surrealist art but also from the exercise in which paper envelopes where unfolded to reveal a different fuction and form.
Enhancing both indoor and outdoor experiences is essential for nurturing walkability within the cityscape, facilitating spaces that encourage interaction among visitors, residents, and staff. It’s imperative that the design remains mindful of the surrounding context to prevent any sense of detachment or alienation from the broader environment specifically in a small city like Andorra. Therefore, the buildings remain within the same height as the surrounding. The program was divided into two masses, creating a walkable path in between. The masses were generated through a series of angular “pieces of paper”, their idiosyncratic forms drawing inspiration from the world of surrealist art. The materiality selected is simple, concrete and copper.
