Garden Palace
Originally set up as a competition for a small scenographic update for part of the museum, Elmēs winning proposal took the totality of the museum into account. By conducting an in-depth historical analysis of the building, they were able to propose an intervention that wasn’t another addition to an already disorienting lay-out, but one which took the whole of the museum’s architecture and curatorial ambitions at heart. The historical intertwining of building and garden was repaired. The exhibition rooms surrounding the Japanese garden were restored to their original volumes and brought back into relationship with the greenery. Through dismantling and simple interventions, it allowed the rooms to benefit once again from natural daylight, while the relationship with the garden created a clear orientation point for the visitor. The new raised floor in the Mercator wing established an immediate access to the garden where mirrors were introduced to enhance the link with the outside, opening up this piece of landscape heritage to the benefit of the museum and the visitor.
