cagm1907
Submission 3
Project: Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum- RIBA Open Design Competition
Project Description:
Our Design strategy is to formally and functionally integrate the addition and re-model of the Museum by creating an
anchoring building that embraces three different centuries. The transparent - reflective façade becomes the 21st
Century’s counterpoint to the 1889 building’s corner tower.
In order to achieve our strategy, we proposed the demolition of the existing buildings No 53 & 55 on Clarence Street
and the Cottages on Chester Walk Street, where our anchoring building is laid out.
The glass tower confidently marks the entrance to the new Museum, with a multistory atrium that anchors the vertical
and horizontal circulations, providing unique views towards the historical site.
Functionally, the ground floor holds all public areas and the proposed Community and Picture Gallery; the first floor has
been destined to regroup and expand all open and educational stores; the second floor completes the main Art Gallery
& Museum area by centralizing and relocating all existing and additional exhibition gallery spaces required; the third
floor gathers the administrative offices that peripherally surround a green environmental patio.
From an environmental point of view, the glass façade captures solar energy through thin film photovoltaics, and works
as a grid connected power generator, reducing the building’s energy expenditures.
The addition also proposes a “green roof top” that doubles as a sculpture garden and additional exhibition space.
Parts of the Clarence façade are clad in re-constituted clay profiles that are made out of reclaimed masonry from the
site’s demolished buildings. These provide an attractive resilient material as well as tangible –touchable- historical
continuity with the building’s past.
Submission 3
Project: Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum- RIBA Open Design Competition
Project Description:
Our Design strategy is to formally and functionally integrate the addition and re-model of the Museum by creating an
anchoring building that embraces three different centuries. The transparent - reflective façade becomes the 21st
Century’s counterpoint to the 1889 building’s corner tower.
In order to achieve our strategy, we proposed the demolition of the existing buildings No 53 & 55 on Clarence Street
and the Cottages on Chester Walk Street, where our anchoring building is laid out.
The glass tower confidently marks the entrance to the new Museum, with a multistory atrium that anchors the vertical
and horizontal circulations, providing unique views towards the historical site.
Functionally, the ground floor holds all public areas and the proposed Community and Picture Gallery; the first floor has
been destined to regroup and expand all open and educational stores; the second floor completes the main Art Gallery
& Museum area by centralizing and relocating all existing and additional exhibition gallery spaces required; the third
floor gathers the administrative offices that peripherally surround a green environmental patio.
From an environmental point of view, the glass façade captures solar energy through thin film photovoltaics, and works
as a grid connected power generator, reducing the building’s energy expenditures.
The addition also proposes a “green roof top” that doubles as a sculpture garden and additional exhibition space.
Parts of the Clarence façade are clad in re-constituted clay profiles that are made out of reclaimed masonry from the
site’s demolished buildings. These provide an attractive resilient material as well as tangible –touchable- historical
continuity with the building’s past.