Mansilla+Tuñón, Arquitectos: MUSAC
This weeks architecte[s] de la semaine are Luis M. Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón, of Mansilla+Tuñón [go figure], contemporary Spanish architects.
These two ninjas started the firm in 1992, and have experienced an incredible amount of success since then, with work winning the ENOR Award 2005, COAM Award 2003, Spanish Architecture Award 2003, FAD Award 2001, COACV Award 2000, Excellent Work Award 2000, CEOE Foundation Award 1997, and the Arquitecti Award 1996…
Lots of their work has come from the numerous competitions they’ve won, which you can see here [I'm not going to list them all]. And on top of all this, both Mansilla and Tuñón have worked as professors at the Architecture School of Madrid, and as guest professors & lecturers at various schools throughout the world.
The project you’re looking at here is MUSAC [Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León] in Avenida de los Reye Leoneses, Leon, Spain. The museum’s layout encourages visitors to explore the various galleries, and challenges them to know where in the building they’ve come from and where they are going, making the museum experience one of discovery on multiple levels; both of the works exhibited and of the building itself.
As for the facade [I know you ninjas are all wondering about that], only those that face the main courtyard use the colorful panels shown, and the rest are that frosted glass paneling. I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by Mansilla earlier this year at Roger Williams University where he explained that the colors for the panels on these facades were inspired by a local cathedral [sorry, but I can't remember the name] which was famous for its beautiful stained glass windows.
On a vast urban plan, MUSAC draws the scenario for art with the same optimistic attitude used by the Roman surveyors to sketch their cities in the landscape. In contrast to other types of spaces which, in their museum facet, focus on the exhibition of frozen historic collections, MUSAC is a living space that opens its door to the wide-ranging manifestations of contemporary art. This is an art centre that constructs a set of chessboards on which the action is the protagonist of the space; a structure that develops from an open system, formed by fabric of squares and rhombi, and permitting the construction of a secret geography of memory. [from Mansilla+Tuñón's home page]
[i couldn't help but throw this image up here...what a sick way to show your staff on your site...]
Posted: December 26th, 2006
at 12:00pm by orangemenace
Categories: architecte de la semaine, architecture, featured ninjas
Comments: 2 comments
the Viking way to cook
The new age Viking would definitely rock this:

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Fantastic, now i just need to learn how to cook. Images from Viking website, quoted information from MSN.com.






















