Instructive modeling #4 : National Museum of Roman Art by Rafael Moneo

Learn to model. Learn from the model.

To learn about the making of the 3D model : The National Museum of Roman Art 3D model

10 practical architecture lessons from the National Museum of Roman Art model

These are 10 practical lessons I picked up while modeling in details the major part of this massive building that is the National Museum of Roman Art in Merida, Spain, architectural landmark from reknown Rafael Moneo, spanish Pritzker winner :

1. Dimensions of the arcades
2. Gallery design
3. Sunlight technique
4. Roof windows
5. Tunnel entrance
6. Bricks without mortar
7. Bricks and metal
8. The Two-faced door
9. Flow of the visit
10. Placement of the south windows

This is still, as for this ‘Instructive modeling’ series goes, a subjective list, feel free to share any complementary insight about this quite vast project.

Warning

All measurements given here are directly from my 3D model. Although they cannot be considered as 100% exact, they are pretty close to give an idea of scale and reference, with let’s say at least 95% accuracy

Lesson n°1 : Dimensions of the arcades

Let’s start with the main attraction: the galleries and the iconic arches. The exhibition area is asymmetrical, with one large corridor under the high arches.

Here the main measurements of those spaces:

• Thickness of the walls : 60cm from the ground up, 110cm in the basement foundations.
• Distance between two walls (framework) : 6,57m
• Radius of the big arch : 5,50m
• Height of the walls : 17,05m

Lesson n°2 : Gallery design

The width of each gallery and the height have to let enough space for artworks displayed on the walls, or in front of the walls, plus visitors in front of them.

The perpendicular galleries are numbered I to X (matching the centuries of the artworks displayed), with metal medallions hung on the walls. Those make it very easy to locate oneself, and give a clear direction for the visit.

On top of the ground floor, the roman artworks are distributed with ease on 2 upper levels using display cabinets (for small artefacts) or even on the whole wall for huge mosaics. The scenography works very easily with the spacing of the galleries, and with the flexibility given by the large flat and homogenous brick walls.

Those really give enough room to display any kind of artwork, even more so as roman brick walls and marble sculptures match pretty well.

Lesson n°3 : Sunlight technique

Lighting in a museum is always the biggest challenge. Here as in most of art galleries, natural sunlight is predominant and comes from above.

The same design principle is repeated all throughout, very same number of windows and length of the openings. Dimensions of the openings: 299 cm by 78 cm, times 36.

Sunlight is filtered through a light well that spreads very wide over each gallery. The design of the openings under the actual roof windows is very precise. It lets light bounce off white side of dormers that channel the white over exposed light downwards. From the ground you only see white rectangles with the exposure difference.

It is completed by rectangular windows on the north façade, and a big one on the east façade, plus hidden ones on the south façade.

There is an exception on the gallery X at the end: why? Maybe to enhance the particular sculptures displayed on the end wall, or to give a sense of the time of day when the sun enters the building there.

Lesson n°4 : Roof windows

Continuing on the subject of the roof, the roof windows that allow sunlight to enter are symmetrical, dimensions 172cm by 87cm each.

Structure ? The supporting structure for the fixed frame of the window is more likely hidden in the width of the perpendicular reveals. There doesn’t seem to be a middle beam that stretches all the way between the two rows of roof windows.

Lesson n°5 : Tunnel entrance

Entering the museum from the main door façade, there is a small path leading to the exhibition area.

The entrance level is one floor over the galleries level (3,10 m higher), you can spot the exhibition area from above just after punching in your ticket. Two small ramps lead to the galleries level, where you have to cross a short and narrow (compared to the huge space ahead) tunnel to get there.

Side note, that tunnel is 18,86 meters long, 6,62 m wide, 6,03 m high, and stands above ground without any intermediary structural support.

The south façade of the tunnel limits the light on the ground as you keep going. Then, the perspective widens once you cross the threshold. The change of scale becomes overwhelming as your field of view expands and you discover the whole volume.

Lesson n°6 : Bricks without mortar

The architect really wanted to give the project kind of an abstract look, in order to offer a contemporary interpretation on an ancient building technique. The way the bricks cover the concrete walls, without mortar, certainly achieves that effect.

This was very difficult to recreated on the 3D model, multiplied as it is at the scale of the museum. Bricks dimensions are roughly 6 by 42cm (eyeballed).

For the exterior facades, the same brick pattern is well balanced with the occasional arches that signal the windows. Using the exact same bricks helps to smooth the overall feel of unity in those facades.

On the south end, it also incorporates supporting structure (brick covered buttresses) seamlessly. On the north side, the façade incorporates vertical gutters and small wire meshed openings to let the basement breathe.

Lesson n°7 : Bricks and metal

Those two materials work pretty well together in this project. The metal part needed to be specifically designed as well. Attention to these details allows to really appreciate the drawing of each railing, each medallion, each lamp, each piece of furniture.

As in many other architecture masterpieces, “God is in the details”.

Randomization of the bricks colors really adds something, specific to craftmanship, which makes the whole project very unique, even though there is a pattern repetition of walls and arches. As you follow those nuances along your tour, it feels like you’re never really in the same place.

Beside bricks and metal, there is the same concrete rough material underneath the ground slab floors, and stone tiles on the floors, with diamond shapes to mark the galleries distribution.

Lesson n°8 : the Two-faced door

This is a quick one but I did have to find ten of them.

The entrance door is quite interesting in the dimensions design. The double metal door is two faced, with one ‘museum open’ face that is quite sculptural and a work of art in itself, luring in the visitor. The ‘closed museum’ face wears a simple decorative pattern.

The double door opens at 180 degrees either completely shut or completely open, to display either face. The width of the entrance façade arch is exactly the double of the door’s, leaving zero useless space, showing a very precise design once again.

Lesson n°9 : Flow of the visit

With such a big open space with lots of connections through the galleries, the choice of visit routes from one side to the other is quite large.

With the medallions mentioned earlier, the visual points of reference are endless thanks to those communications that make the exhibition area whole. Going through the galleries, ground level, 1^st floor, 2^nd floor, going up and down the stairs, floating around through the centuries.

There is not a unique sequence of the visit here. It seems you are meant to discover the space however you feel like it, and enjoy it as much as what is exhibited. One example among countless ones is given in red below:

Given the quality and openness of the space, it feels appropriate to allow the visitor to wander through it at will.

Lesson n°10 : Placement of the south windows

Something that kind of bugged me and that I didn’t quite get.

On the south façade, the windows are placed really high up, what is strange is that the light enters and immediately strikes an interior wall, elevated to block the direct sunlight. I’m not sure how much of that light manages to bounce enough to get in.

Except in the last gallery where the sunlight breaks across the window onto the floor. Allowing for some nice pictures at a certain point of the day.

Another strange fact: glass seems to be missing on a fraction of the window. This means that the air comes out of the building through tiny openings all placed on the top side of the south wall.

Does this side of the building act like a chimney for natural ventilation? What about in the winter times? In Merida, the temperature is quite moderate: between 9°C and 28°C all year round. Should be enough not to warm up the space I guess, since there were no signs of air vents or heater anywhere.

Conclusion

Apart from the exhibition area, which is the main attraction of the museum, most of the ‘secondary’ spaces (entrance building, conference room, technical rooms) were harder to make out, based on the few floorplans I could find. Therefore, I don’t have much to say here on those.

Anyhow, that is going to be it for this architectural masterpiece that certainly had many qualities that went above my head. Still, if I manage to remember at least these 10 practical lessons, this will have been worth the trouble of modeling/studying it.

I hope you took something from it as well, and I’ll see you on the next one.