MoMA Construction

I've started work on the new museum. The idea of a suspension-like structure with elements of the city in it came to me in a meeting. I've created what my rough sketch was but now I'm stuck on the walls and textures. I want something very nonlinear, so it might take me a while to converge on the final design.

Please feel free to comment on the structure or make suggestions as it grows. It can be anything from "too big" to "needs salt".

~Ulrika~

My two cents.

I think the cantilever idea is great. It looks very related to the city, and it sweeps up and out in a way that is connected but at the same time suggesting higher things than daily life; like the spires on the Kirche. I also like the cross-timber motif on the outside; it, too, relates the building to the city.

I presume it's assumed that the cross-timbering will not surface the inside. That would compete visually with any work which was placed there. In fact, the windows are OK, but if we could remove the curtains, so that the inner view of the wall presented a simple backdrop for the art, that would be great. Some kind of stucco texture, perhaps.

I don't think the suspension framework works. While out beyond the walls, for the bridge, they suggest a sweeping connection with the larger world; here, in this very narrow place, they look like construction cranes. I look at them hoping that when the project is complete, they will come down, revealing the simple beauty of the structure.

I think the cantilevered floors work well without the suspension structure. For an in-town building like this, I suggest that a central, more or less hidden, support hold up the layers. (If you feel you need support, but, I'm not expert at building, so there may be reasons that the building components are equipped with "weight".) The bottom floor, at least, should relate to the rock of Neualtenburg, like with a central cylindrical support (just an idea). BTW, couldn't the peak of that rock be terraformed a bit, to lower the first floor, and get a bit more height for the building (before it gets to looking too high).

Anyway, just my first impression. Ulrika, I certainly applaud your taking on this big, very visible, very sensitive project in these "uncertain" times. Your vision of the thing certainly is rooted in the Neualt organism, and grows up, out of it in a wonderfully organic way.

Just so long as the construction cranes come down at the completion!

Thank you.

Sudane

I'm going to make the walls white on the inside. I had the floors a light wood color like SFMoMA but it didn't look right. I'd like a metallic outer texture with a hint of fachwerk but I'm not sure. That and the shape of the skin will be the most difficult part.

Give the suspension lines another week or so, as they are still in a test configuration. I was thinking of fanning them out like on the bridge and then laying a metallic skin over them. They'll be virtually invisible. If they still don't work, we can remove them later.

I'd actually like to pull the peak into the structure and have it poke through the bottom floor to connect the building to the city. Then central sculptures would poke through to the second floor.

My big problem is that I feel the spires are out of dimension with the rest of the city. How would you feel if I lowered the two side spires down 10 meters or so? Maybe even pulling them into the structure. Hmm. I'll keep experimenting. If anyone has any dramatic high-resolution metal textures (perhaps with hints of rainbow color) I'd love to have a copy.

Thanks Sudane! Keep the comments coming.

~Ulrika~

I am alive! After my longest absence from SL yet, I plan to return shortly to finish up the museum (I think about it often) and help with the rental property.

In addition to planning for a new baby (I had my hair turned from its hipster black to natural blonde two weeks ago), my husband received a special grant at work to offset the cost of home ownership in California. We have six months to find and close on a home to receive the grant. (The grant lowers the loan and down-payment requirements and pays for mortgage insurance.) The past two weekends (and even tonight) we were looking at homes all over the Bay Area. (To give you an idea of the cost, we found a trailer home this weekend that was selling for $350,000.)

~Ulrika~

Welcome back Ulirka.

For a moment I thought you said you had the babie's hair changed from black to blonde (woh, gene therapy has come a long way)


The museum does look good. How much usuable space wil be inside? What can it be used for afterwards?

Sorry. Can't help it

How does changing your hair color help prepare for a new baby?

I never did understand this baby business!

Sudane

My hair is blonde naturally but I've dyed it black for years. Unfortunately, the black dye has chemicals in it which can enter the blood stream and thus the baby while it's in the womb or during breast feeding (is this too much for our group forum)?

To avoid months of blonde roots, I just had my hair colored blonde through a laborious five hour (non-baby-harming) process. I look so weird. :/


As for the size of the museum, I'm not sure. I'll have to balance internal volume with its affect on the city externally. It should converge shortly.

~Ulrika~

Well, Sudane, you asked for it; you got it.

Thanks. I never knew.

I guess with all this "luuuuuv" and talk of babies running around the Neualtenburg forum these days, it just brings out the old "grump" in me.

My best to you!

Sudane

Hey, I'm no suburban breeder. I'm an urban hipster who will spend the rest of her life warning people to avoid the rhythm method. (Never trust anything related to reproduction recommended by the Catholic Church.)

That's not to say that I won't love the little hobgoblin to death, though.

~Ulrika~

Time to resurrect this thread!

I had intended to work on the Schloss (castle) next but have instead decided to work on the museum once again. This time I have a clear vision of the structure I'd like to create after receiving inspiration from a build I visited in world yesterday and a structure I found in an architectural magazine a few weeks back.

I've chosen to revisit the MoMA first because:

1. I'd like to sell the land to a group who is interested in supporting the arts as soon as possible.
   
2. I'd like to have a say in the architecture such that it can be tied in with the city properly.
   
3. The city has become a bit too Bavarian, so it's time to reassert the modern theme with a dramatic new modern structure.
   

Please try to reserve comments both good and bad until it's complete in a week or two and then we can review it as a group.

~Ulrika~

Oh, I'm curious to see what the "next" MoMA is going to look like - and yes, I'll reserve my opinions for after the build. So far, I'm nothing less than impressed with your work, Ulrika, and I always expect to get surprised again. I think that the "best" surprise I ever had was the bridge, which appeared "spontaneously" ages ago - it was not really planned on the original sim - and which fits incredibly well in the overall structure of the city.

I cannot disagree with a modern building in the middle of the city just to offset the trend of the "medieval" look. It would be lovely to have something inspired on a Bauhaus style instead of a postmodern structure, but then again, this is just my thoughts.

Now, as to the museum - I think we have failed so far to define what the museum is for. I think I've mentioned once or twice that I have contacted people to give some feedback on what they would like to do (or see) in the museum. Only a very few have expressed the "need" to have a place for "free art exhibition" - since land is cheap these days, and there are enough of those already.

I fully agree that the museum should be "owned" by a group that wants to promote the arts. My only doubt is how they are going to promote that. What, exactly, can Neualtenburg offer a museum in its City, that you can't offer anywhere else in SL? Promotion? Advertising? Interesting events? A sponsorship (in L$)?

I think that our challenge will be to understand what the City can give to a museum - and not the other way round, since that is the more obvious way. As soon we can find this advantage, it will be easy to promote - I mean, we are even successful with our land sales, despite a slightly higher price, just because we give an incredible amount of extra added value to being part of the Neualtenburg co-op. People understand that.

Hmm. This post of mine is just an appeal for brainstorming

My original vision for the museum was to create a true virtual-world modern art museum with a collection of work from serious virtual artists. Much of the art that finds itself in other SL museum is nothing more than photoshopped textures on prims. I was looking for something a bit more substantial, such as original works either prim or texture based that have some underlying purpose beyond serving as RL simulacrum.

For instance Donovan Galatea made an amazing sculpture for last year's Burning Life Festival. It was a raindrop which contained a tree. When I asked him its meaning, he replied that it was too complex to explain in a forum post. That's the stuff I'm looking for. (Where is Donovan anyway?)

To pull this off, we need a permanent and well supported space and a group of individuals who have a nose for spotting high-quality art when they see it. By keeping the standard very high and pulling together cohesive shows, we'll have a legitimate MoMA that will be a boon to artists and SLers alike.

I never actually wanted to sell the land to a group. Rather I wanted to create a place where the arts were supported by the city. However, given the very real financial requirements of the city, I don't know if that's feasible. Likewise, I don't know if finding a group to fund and run the land is feasible either. Perhaps we could offer reduced land rates (an arts subsidy) for that particular plot of land?

What do you think?

~Ulrika~

I feel that if we CAN do the program itself, and if the program benefits the City which a cultural program certainly would, we should do it. If it has to happen on City land, then so be it.

If and when a group can be found or formed to assume responsibility for caring for this program and contributing to the City coffers a fair share for the land used, then I feel it would be appropriate to deed the building and its program to them.

Sudane

I also agree that we should do it by ourselves - if we can

Mind you, I'm not being skeptical, just a bit more pragmatic We have tried so far to attract the right kind of people to run it. Or perhaps we didn't try hard enough, I don't know.

I perfectly understand what kind of art exhibits you would like to have, Ulrika. I'd love to have that type of thing as well Now "wanting" and "doing" are different things, so, what should we do? Could we start advertising the Museum as soon as it is built? On the classified forums, or on the new, in-world classified Find menu? (sorry I haven't figure out how exactly that works)

I like the idea of a city run MoMA, maybe we can work out the finances. How much will the land cost? Perhaps it can be owned and paid by a citizen group inside of Neualtenburg. That is, Neualtenburg citizens who are willing to donate to the cost of the MoMA to pay the rent. It could be like the Neualtenburg Citizens Art Fund, and the fund could put the management of the MoMA in the hands of an elected Neualtenburg official (maybe a special art director position)....

I know I'd personally love to help out with the curating, but probably couldn't gaurantee I could do it for the life of the city... or even the whole first year. That's why elected positions would be ideal... Citizens would get a chance to vote for the town curator!

Satchmo

Looks like there's already one well established MoMA in SL.

http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=12564&sort=PictureID+desc

I'll have to look at it in more detail, when I return. I leave in 5 minutes!

~Ulrika~

The Museum in that picture has been (pretty much) next door to me in Sistiana for getting close to a year now. There is not a whole lot in it, nor is it added to often. I haven't been inside in a few months, but I know there are never events there, nor is it really activily promoted. Is a neat build though!

After giving it some thought, I've come up with the architecture and a unique theme for our museum.

The architecture will be modern with concrete, aluminum, and glass with a balanced structure that's just large enough for its intended use but not so large that it interferes with the church. It's much less ambitious than the previous aborted design with an emphasis on aesthetics, usability, and a reasonable prim count. I will start work on it later this week with the goal of finishing it up by the end of the weekend.

To differentiate ourselves from the myriad of other museums in SL, I would like to create SL's first Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA). It would be dedicated to showing multiple works in several media from one or two artists at a time.

What's the difference between Modern and Contemporary art? Modern art encompasses the modern period from the late 1800s to the late 1900s. It can be art by artists who are still producing art, no longer living, or alive but no longer making art. Contemporary art is art currently being produced that has not yet achieved high status or recognition but might very well do so some day.

What do you think?

~Ulrika~

Construction has been slightly delayed because I've been spending a lot of time in a thread in the General forum that's of great interest to me (I like to rotate between the city, the forum, and personal interests in SL to stay balanced). It's winding down now, so I'll began to transition back to work on the city this week and next weekend.

Up next are store fronts for the fachwerks, holovendors, and the museum on the weekend.

~Ulrika~

Oops. I was logged in as Uma for administrative purposes and forgot to switch back to Ulrika.

~Ulrika~

The core of the museum is in place. I'm very satisfied with the display space, the way the building interfaces with the hill, and how the structure works with the surrounding land.

Up next will be the addition of windows, an external modern shell, and finishing touches. I imagine it will finish up by the end of next Friday (provided the Tinies fun doesn't keep distracting me).

~Ulrika~

Well, Ulrika, I'm here with my two cents.

I like the shape of the "mass" itself. The series of volumes, topped by a kind of sundial-like expression. They all fit together with a nice sort of harmony.

The serious problem I have is the pure size of the building. From above, it seems to settle into the City fairly well, sort of being alternative shapes alongside the fachwerk roofs. But, from the street, the building is utterly overwhelming. Stand on the corner of Talenstrasse and Ulrikastrasse. The building towers straight up way above the existing houses. And, instead of the openess above which the traditional buildings provide by their sloped roofs, the museum just goes on up straight. It creates a very foreboding sense. And seems very out of place in the surrounding Bavarian environs.

Perhaps if the building were stepped back this might be improved? If the main level of the "mass" were lower in height, topped by a higher more central volume? Or the angular theme of the roof-top thing repeated in the lower-level masses?

I look forward to the nature of the "external modern shell" because, of course, this might contribute a lot to eliminating the massive-ness of the street walls.

Ulrika, the building is certainly an exciting start. I hope that as construction proceeds it can settle more organically into its environment.


Sudane

My first attempt at realizing a structure for that spot, was without a concrete vision or plan and after a little criticism I took a step back to reevaluate the structure and never returned. This time after much research on the architecture and layout of modern art museums (thanks to a trip to the library), I have a definite vision.

The goal here is to begin with the display space in mind. The museum has three rooms each with approximately a 10 m by 20 m footprint. The first gallery will be used to provide information and overview, the smallest gallery furthest back can be isolated and used for projection (QuickTime), and the largest gallery can be used for large structures or sculptures. It's this interior floorspace that's setting the volume for the structure.

To accomodate this square footage, I could either go up or out. Because I don't want to compete with the height of the church, I chose to push the structure out. As the structure moves out from its central column, which rests on the top of the hill, it reaches out and over the surrounding sidewalks. The addition of windows will tie the museum to the city by providing views of the church, castle, and ground underneath the building. The remainder of the building will stay concrete (although I will touch up the texture).

In regards to the concern that the structure is too large, I plan on continuing with the current structure, as the design is really flowing right now and any interruption could abort the process. Many things will change as I integrate other elements into the shell and once it's done, I can always go back and trim a few meters off without a problem.

~Ulrika~

I had a slow walk around the building and I'm sad to say it fills me with dread. It's exactly the sort of building that appeared like a rash in the UK in the 60s and is now being demolished. Sorry, it just looks totally out of place.

OK. I'll raze it. However, I'm done with the museum. You'll have to find someone else to do it.

~Ulrika~