Taxila Museum of Heritage

National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad.(NUST),School of Art, Design and Architecture (SADA)

Project idea

Taxila, "the Stone city", is an invaluable asset to the diverse history and heritage of Pakistan. Over the course of more than six thousand years, the region has been host to civilizations their cities and their architecture. The subsequent layering of these cultures accumulated into the morphology of Taxila. Influences from the Huns to the dominant Buddhist civilization, the Greeks, the Romans and much later, the British Empire, all have had a tangible impact on the development of Taxila. Ruins that hold status of World Heritage sites are scattered through out Taxila, connected only by a single road that cuts through the city.

The journey toward these ancient sites initiates with a primary node of the city, the Taxila Museum of Gandharan Art. The museum building, now over a century old, stands as an artifact in of itself.

Therefore, goal of the project was to create an extension to the Taxila Museum that not only accommodates more of the existing art and artifacts but also provides contemporary exhibition spaces with a wider range of newer and traditional art forms.

Project description

A primary intent of the design was to derive the experience and spaces from Buddhist ideology of karma. The architecture is to reveal paths and reveal choices to the user and reward them with an experience relative to their choice. These choices are differentiated by the lengths of their circulation paths; the further you choose to walk, the better experience the architecture presents to you.
The subsequent circulation loops are a derivations of the Buddhist prayer, where one circumambulates around a stupa.

The primary programs and spaces consist of the following: -
- Existing Gandharan Art & Artifact gallery
- Post-Gandharan, Contemporary Buddhist Art Gallery
- Mural Gallery
- Stonework & Sculpture Workshop + Display area
- Painting Studio
- VR & Digital Art Exhibit
- Islamic-Buddhist Art Exhibit
- Public Library
- Meditation & Sculpture Gardens
- Amphitheater
- Cafe'

Technical information

The implemented master plan and floor plans are composites of grids derived from the existing museum, the radial geometry found in early Buddhist architecture of Taxila, like that of the Dharmarajika stupa, and the linear geometry of Buddhist monasteries that came afterwards.

The main gallery and exhibit spaces sit on top of a service floor that allows for proper care and curation of the artworks, as well as eliminating the possibility of a user interacting with the administration.

The radial plan is centered around a cylindrical tower and an amphitheater that is in the form of an inverted stupa. These elements serve not only as converging spaces and orienting elements for those within the bounds of the museum but also as monumental landmarks for those approaching this node of the city. The tower also functions as a anamorphic element that uses a reflective glass curtain wall to project the rest of the museum onto itself.

The cladding material used for the extension was local to the city of Taxila, "the Taxila black stone". The opposing chamfered faces of the cladded stone allowed light to interact differently with the skin of the building at different times of the day, making a static element dynamic and living.