AXIS / ACCESS (2006)
with: Nathaly Der Boghosian, Jeong Yul Lee, Edwin Liu, Felix Monasakanian, Nebi Nazar and Hugo Ventura
The scheme proposes a merging of the program directly with the road to the ruins. This act merges the historical past with the contemporary exhibition of Mayan culture. The road creates a datum of axial relationships that distributes the required components into a series of paths, minimizing the project’s ecological impact on the context.
Paths generated by analytical diagrams were used to locate the elements along the “programmatic tube.” Users experience the space by following vertically diverging branches along the dominant path. As individuals move vertically and horizontally through the building envelope, the circulation becomes a means of bisecting the historical with the contemporary.
Once visitors reach the midpoint of the programmatic tube, they can access the historical core. The historical core functions both as vertical circulation and information gallery. At the vertical ends of the historical core are the main exhibition spaces. Along the spiraling ramp of the historical core is the informational projection strand, which displays an interactive timeline about the site. The permanent gallery is located underground, while the temporary gallery is elevated.