Lascaux IV Centre of Cave Art
200best ES
Snøhetta
2016
Type
Museum
Tags
cultural facilities, art spaces , 200Best
Visitability
Allowed
Description
The new Lascaux IV Caves Museum is situated at the intersection of two unique landscapes, between a densely-forested, protected hillside and the agricultural Vézère valley. Snøhetta’s design conceives the museum as a fine cut in the landscape, inviting visitors into a curious world of prehistory. It was here, deep in the caves below, that prehistoric artists produced extraordinary cave paintings over 20,000 years ago.As a museum and interpretation centre, the project has opened up the possibility of visiting Lascaux, the most spectacular of all painted caves, to a new generation of visitors. The highlight is the facsimile cave that allows visitors to experience this mysterious environment, to touch the contours and textures of the stone and contemplate the ancient artworks. Lascaux IV marks the beginning of a new phase in the celebration of the knowledge of this unique site and its cultural heritage. Through a holistic approach that considers the landscape, the architecture, the interior, and the scenography as a whole, the design aims to create an experience that educates visitors on the significance of the site while revealing the original wonder and mystery of its discovery. Lascaux IV is created as a fissure in the landscape. The roof features a gentle broken line, echoing the hill’s undulating form. Across its length, the façade ranges from transparent to opaque, maintaining an inseparable relationship with the exterior, offering hints of what is contained within.Lascaux IV is placed in a transitional zone between untouched forest and agricultural land. By using the exact border that does not belong to either of these two vastly different landscapes, the architecture aims to be a contribution to the location and landscape, facilitating a dialogue between the two contrasting landscapes. The building’s form and materiality have been given a sober expression, within any excess, speaking to the elements of the surrounding nature. In this way, the building aims to reflect the curious spirit of the original caves and context, as well as to stand as a grand representation of the future heritage of the area. The walls, roof, façade strip, and both interior and exterior flooring are all made in the same architectural concrete, giving the building a monolithic expression. The raw, unfinished treatment of the material evokes the mineral world, the rock of the hills, and the cave. The project’s second predominant materiality, glass, defines the façade and the roof of the orientation space. The transparency of the façade creates a direct visual connection between the exterior and the interior, inviting the public in. The interplay between the glass and the concrete produces a series of contrasting effects, between opaqueness and transparency, light and shade, incomplete and sophisticated, rough and smooth. Their reciprocity creates balance and gives the facility a contemporary feel.(Description provided by Snohetta)