Museum Building on Tour

The Chanel Contemporary Art Container, unmistakably designed by Zaha Hadid, opened at the end of February 2008 in Hong Kong, the first venue among 8 cities. Following the idea of Chanel-designer Karl Lagerfeld, the temporary museum building “Mobile Art” includes works by renowned artists, asked to deal with famous Chanel-design.

A famous quilted bag from 1955 is the inspiration for the artworks on display, created by 20 international artists, such as Yoko Ono among others. In that case not only the content is on tour, but the futuristic museum building by Zaha Hadid as well. The next venue cities will be Tokyo, following New York, Los Angeles, London and Moscow with the tour finally ending in Paris in 2010. The building has a total size of 700 square meters, with an overall height of 6 meters. In view of the extensive shipping between cities, each structural segment is a maximum of 2,25m wide. The building includes a central courtyard with large transparent openings to the sky above and is designed to host events as well as provide an area for reflection after visiting the exhibition. The glazed ceiling adjusts to allow for control of the interior temperature in response to the particular climate conditions of each venue city. The architects explain their design as follows: The form of the Chanel Pavilion is a celebration of the iconic work of Chanel, unmistakeable for its smooth layering of exquisite details that together create an elegant, cohesive whole. The resulting structure is very much tied to that original inspiration—elegant, functional, and versatile both in its overall structure and detail.

Pictures: Flickr-User KnOizKi

Egal, ob innen oder außen: In der Regel wird der mobile Ausstellungspavillon Zaha Hadids aus der Fußgängerperspektive erlebt. Die schneckenhausartige Bauskulptur als Ganzes bleibt den meisten Besuchern daher leider verborgen. Insofern ist ein Blick auf die im Vorfeld der Planungen entstandenen Renderings der britischen Architektin aufschlussreich.