Digital Museum

Pecica, Romania

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Digital Museum

Pecica, Romania

Firm

RINO Architecture

Type

Cultural › Gallery Cultural Center Museum

YEAR

2013

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

“Inspired by Constantin Brancusi’s “miracle” sculpture, the building rises naturally from the ground through golden spirals (the Fibonacci spirals) and crystallizes in a shape that, just like its muse, tries to set itself free from “the past burdens”, striving to rise high. Its shape offers the visitor a feeling of aspiration, an aspiration not only of the building, but of life itself.” – Claudiu Ionescu – architect.

The building represents Romania’s first permanent digital museum. Inside visitors can explore any museum of the world through the use of the latest technology in 3D video projections, 3D screens, touchscreens and so on. A big advantage is that the museum can host any presentation, exhibition or vernissage and that the visitors can effectively inform themselves about the environment, local traditions and history without the need of a very large expositional space, a big surveillance staff or substantial maintenance costs.

Located near the Mures Floodplain Natural Park, an environmentally protected area, the building has a very strong eco-friendly character. This fact is due to the buildings installations that do not pollute the environment and a green roof that brings back a bigger “slice of nature” that the one that was removed because of the construction of the building. This green roof also offers the visitors a 360 panorama of the surrounding beauties that the mures floodplain natural park has to offer. Another key environmental concept was included in the design and it has to do with the N-S orientation of the building that, together with the pavement that surrounds it, forms a solar sun dial. Practically, the shadow of the building marks the exact time on the concrete pavement without using any other energy besides the sun shine.

The building is situated in Pecica, a very old community with a rich history and many well-kept traditions. The most famous is bread making and it’s considered to this day Pecica’s local brand. Visitors can now observe the art of bread making because of the 250yo model of the local bread oven present in this museum. The Pecica bread was highly appreciated even by Nicolae Ceausescu, the communist Romanian dictator that had a bread shipped to him by plane every Saturday.

The structure of the building consists of reinforced concrete walls that are all tilted inwards or outwards. The Pecica region is an active seismic zone, so a 7,5m long cantilever, on 2 outward 15 degrees tilted walls, supporting over them a green roof was no easy task for the structural engineers.

The building was completed in 5 months’ time, is already part of the community and has become an icon for the locals.