Schindler's Ark

Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Tucumán

Project idea

RUPTURE, HOPE AND MEMORY THROUGH TEXTILES

The idea of the party is to use textiles as the main element of the project. It is about bringing the textile past of the factory to the present. As can be seen in the image on the left, the fabric has a series of holes but in a certain way these are not completely detached from the rest of the fabric. Here we are faced with an analogy to everything that happened during the Holocaust. The Jews on Schindler’s list survived. They went through the worst of history but were still able to go on.

The landscape of a textile mill at that time was very similar to that of the joint images. The rolls of fabric. The threads that are linked to the machines. All this is brought to the project. Each thread is a survivor. A person with a story. With a past marked by this factory and a future continued by his descendants.

Certain fabrics have the property of being translucent. This effect is interesting to introduce in the project because it allows a play of light and shadows, reflections and mystery that make the experience of a museum of these characteristics.

Project description

PROPOSED COMPOSITION

The buildings in the northern area will remain almost entirely standing. The central building, which has no historical value since it was built at a later date, will be demolished to create the access plaza to the cultural area. The southern area will be where a major intervention will be implemented because there are only two buildings still standing. They will be left and will be part of a public tour.

CIRCULATION AND ACCESS

The pedestrian circulation will be marked by a large longitudinal axis that runs from south to north throughout the complex. The train station will be moved to the center of the project in order to improve accessibility to both areas. The motorized accesses to the north zone (trucks and service for cultural functions) and the south zone (housing) will be provided by the road that borders the site to the west. This makes it possible to clear the entire river area of vehicles and allow a public park that links directly to the train station. Finally, there is a pedestrian strip that intends to link both areas by creating a bridge over the road that separates them.

NORTH ZONE

Here you can see a zoom of the north zone and how the great staircase that allows the entrance to the square is generated. From there it will be possible to enter the cultural center and the museum. It will pass through a sieve of fabrics that act as a bellows between the exterior and the interior of the museum. The intention is to generate a sensory journey of transition between light and darkness, between the park and the museum with all the historical load it has.

MUSEUM

The museum proposes a sensorial exhibition. It will take the form of a labyrinth with the intention of making the visitor feel the sensation of loss of direction, without a clear destination. This labyrinth will be composed of curved shapes like the folding of textiles. The museum tour will be made up of a series of organically placed textiles. They will be based on the aforementioned labyrinth, thus forming a single
system.

SOUTH ZONE

Following the longitudinal axis of the north zone, in this area there will be a commercial route on the first floor which will be divided into sectors allowing the connection with the park to the east and with the mountain to the west.

TAPE

A ribbon is proposed that crosses the whole set. It will be arranged in an organic way like the folding of the fabrics. The ribbon that runs through the whole complex, beyond serving as a covered circulation, will have the function of uniting or connecting the south zone with the north zone, generating a tunnel under the street that crosses them. In the north zone, the ribbon will be introduced into the Cultural Center building, becoming the continuation of the route once the visit to the museum is over.

Technical information

COLLECTIVE HOUSING

CORE HOUSING MODULES

Two modules joined by the vertical circulation core. A semi-private access terrace and a SUM are generated as a meeting place for the residents of the housing module.

BUILDING MODULE

Organization based on the vertical circulation cores through which four housing modules are located. The roof of each building module and of the vertical circulation core has a single water with a steep slope following the urban landscape of the northern zone with its truss roofs.

SET OF MODULES

The repetition of the building modules generates the housing complex. It is organized around the west street, following the perimeter of the site and generating an axis of buildings containing the market in the center.