Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture

Ica, Peru
  • Authors: Sandra Barclay, Jean Pierre Crousse
  • Assistants: Rodrigo Apolaya
  • Structural Engineer: Antonio Blanco
  • Client: Agencia Española para la Cooperación Internacional (AECID)
  • City: Ica
  • Country: Peru
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Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Image 4 of 31
© Erieta Attali

Text description provided by the architects. An archaeological museum must find the delicate balance between heritage conservation exposed and release to the public. A site museum, as the Paracas, acquires the additional challenge of having to integrate into the landscape that was the cradle of this culture, which is now part of the most important biological and landscaping reserve of the Peruvian coastal desert. 

Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Image 9 of 31
© Erieta Attali
Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Image 21 of 31
Scheme

The project is implemented practically on the ruins of what was its predecessor, destroyed by an earthquake in 2006. It retakes its rectangular geometry and compactness. A crack or flaw breaks in this volume, separating the functions of disclosure of the museum as workshops, meeting rooms and services dedicated to the conservation of archaeological heritage. The access to the different spaces of the museum is done by this "crack": open spaces that frame portions of the landscape and create the necessary privacy to live in the vast desert.

Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Image 29 of 31
Sketch

Inside the museum, is explored a seemingly contradictory hybridization between the labyrinthine spatiality and spiral path used by the ancient Peruvians and contemporary spatiality, smooth and transparent.

Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Image 2 of 31
Courtesy of BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture
Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Image 7 of 31
Courtesy of BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture
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Ground Floor
Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Interior Photography
Courtesy of BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture

Environmental requirements of the Paracas Desert and the museologicals collection requirements are solved with a "device environmental correction", that defines the architectural and museum party. The device consists of a lamppost run, under which are the transition spaces between exhibition halls or circulation spaces, according to the needs and his position in the project. This device allows to control natural light, artificial light, natural ventilation and cooling of the different environments. Its geometry reinterprets the serie and the gap characteristic of the Paracas textiles, which were his most outstanding technological and artistic expressions.

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Sketch
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Sketch

The building is constructed entirely with pozzolan cement, resistant to salt desert. The exposed concrete and cement grinding that constitute its materiality, acquire a natural reddish color that blends with the neighboring hills.

Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Exterior Photography
Courtesy of BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture
Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Image 26 of 31
Diagram

The patina left by builders in the polished concrete that surrounds the museal rooms give to the museum a ceramic look that resembles the pre-Columbian ceramics (huacos) that are exposed inside.

Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture - Image 3 of 31
Courtesy of BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture

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Project location

Address:Ica, Peru

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Site Museum of Paracas Culture / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture" 04 Apr 2017. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/868465/site-museum-of-paracas-culture-barclay-and-crousse> ISSN 0719-8884

Courtesy of BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture

帕拉卡斯文化遗址博物馆 / BARCLAY&CROUSSE Architecture

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