Report: Geneva Ethnography Museum
- Claudia Fuchs
A remarkable extension of the museum of ethnography has been erected in the arts district of Geneva, whereby the expressive visible form is only the above-ground section of the development. Large parts of the museum are located underground beneath the old and new buildings and the redesigned square between the two. The competition for the project was won by the Zurich architects Graber Pulver in 2008. The striking form of the building, with its steeply pitched roof, its gleaming metal skin articulated in a diamond-shaped pattern plus the broad canopy at the base, conjures many associations – of simple, tent-like structures, for example. But the construction and materials used – concrete, glass and anodized aluminium panels – are decidedly modern. From beneath the entrance canopy, visitors have views through the openings in the roof above, and on entering the museum, they pass through a mirrored lobby (ill. 2) to reach a generous, glazed foyer with a cafe and other facilities. Quite different from this is the contemplative atmosphere of the media library (ill. 5), laid out on two levels beneath the tip of the roof. Here, the glazed openings punched in the concrete conjure a specially illuminated ambience.
