Critic: Wolf Prix & Abigail Coover Hume

Yale School of Architecture | 2016
 

Taking over the site of the Musée Des Confluence in Lyon, France, this center of knowledge exhibits the scientific properties of water in its transformation from frozen to liquid state as a way to grasp the impact of melting glaciers in today’s world effected by climate change. 

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The analysis of glacial movements and cracking formations is transcribed onto the site as a formal strategy for an architecture that metaphorically breaks apart as a symbol of the calving process of glaciers. Although breaking, thin structural members act in tension to support the architecture to signify an optimistic realization that there is still a sign of hope for change to improve the consequences of global warming. 

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This project not only represents the terminus of the glacier as it breaks into the water, but also acts as the terminus of the island where the confluence of the two rivers occurs. It is a site of great significance to Lyon and encourages the gathering of people, enforcing a stronger relationship between man and nature.