It’s called ‘Cité de l’Océan et du Surf’ and it’s the new one museum of the sea and surf conceived and designed by the architect Steven Holl in Biarritz. It is a building that is at the same time a square, a wave and a beach. The result is a ‘architecture born from an ambitious project capable of transforming the classic museum from a container of works to an environment suitable for narrating and exploring the surf and the sea and their role from a social, scientific and ecological point of view.
Born in 1947, Steven Holl is a great protagonist of the architecture of our time. Among his latest projects is the Ocean and Surfing Museum in Biarritz, France.
The result is a one-of-a-kind building capable of revolutionizing the very concept of museum: a large concave space that develops the concept ‘under the sky / under the sea’ is transformed into a convex space to host the exhibitions.
An important role is also played by the steps which have the task of connecting the museum with the sea through a sequence of spaces in which, gradually, the pavé in concrete blocks gives way to the coastal vegetation.
As for thebuilding, Steven Holl brings the roof of the building to the ground and transforms it into a sort of suspended square, a floor that bends down to line up with the floor.
Architecture is therefore no longer a volume but a surface, a sort of real landscape where the exhibition halls are underground and the outdoor space looks like a sort of mega skating rink.
It’s called ‘Cité de l’Océan et du Surf’ and it’s the new one museum of the sea and surf conceived and designed by the architect Steven Holl in Biarritz. It is a building that is at the same time a square, a wave and a beach. The result is a ‘architecture born from an ambitious project capable of transforming the classic museum from a container of works to an environment suitable for narrating and exploring the surf and the sea and their role from a social, scientific and ecological point of view.
Born in 1947, Steven Holl is a great protagonist of the architecture of our time. Among his latest projects is the Ocean and Surfing Museum in Biarritz, France.
The result is a one-of-a-kind building capable of revolutionizing the very concept of museum: a large concave space that develops the concept ‘under the sky / under the sea’ is transformed into a convex space to host the exhibitions.
An important role is also played by the steps which have the task of connecting the museum with the sea through a sequence of spaces in which, gradually, the pavé in concrete blocks gives way to the coastal vegetation.
As for thebuilding, Steven Holl brings the roof of the building to the ground and transforms it into a sort of suspended square, a floor that bends down to line up with the floor.
Architecture is therefore no longer a volume but a surface, a sort of real landscape where the exhibition halls are underground and the outdoor space looks like a sort of mega skating rink.