Natural History
Design Team: Michael Frederick, Ryan Whitacre, Olivier Touraine, Diane Thepkhounphithack, Renee Smith, Wenny Hsu, Sorayos Chuenchomphu
Warsaw, Poland: 2009
There are multiple narratives about Polish History. To embody all these words: Museum, Polish, and History into a single entity is ambitious, because of the intimate scale of the building, its setting in a sensitive context, and the complexity of history itself. Thus for this museum, a complex, not complicated, solution is proposed. The history is proposed to exist in the park to highlight the interaction of history with the landscape. The paths of the Museum of Polish History and the park are thus inseparable. Navigating through the park or inside the museum will create conditions similar to a “promenade” where one can meander through landscape as well as Polish history. Paradoxically, the creation of 20,000 gross square meters for the Museum will be balanced by 7,000 square meters of new park space bridging south to north, providing this missing link for the city. The “Museum of Polish History” will become the foundation for a harmonious future, a stable development of humanity based on an extended knowledge of the Polish people’s collective history and a profound respect and understanding of the natural environment.
