THE MENIL COLLECTION: LIGHT AS DESIGN IMPETUS

摘要

This daylight contribution to the illumination of the galleries may have been exaggerated. Despite the client's desire to provide daylight for all the exhibition rooms, a majority of the artwork is displayed in rooms (middle gallery) that have no daylight at all. Even the east and west galleries cannot function without additional electric light. Nevertheless, this experience has revealed the power of daylight at engaging better enjoyment of the artwork by the visitor. The evidence points at the need for better technologies that would protect the artwork while allowing it to be exposed to natural light, as alternative to electric light. This study also raised questions about the placement of the leaves beneath the glass roof. While such leaves are vital mediators of daylight, achieving minimal penetration of the direct solar beam and minimal glare conditions, they nevertheless are a source of heat build-up within the roof plenum. Similar to the nearby Cy Twombly Gallery which is provided with external orientable louvers, the location of the leaves above the glass roof would have been a better choice. This way, the solarrays conversion to heat inside the galleries would have been prevented without lessening the daylight effect. Hence, the leaves would not only have modulated the daylight penetration, but they would also have acted as external shadings, minimizing altogether the penetration of solar heat into the gallery spaces. Conceivably, the risks of wind uplift could have been prevented by raising a parapet around the roof, as it was done at the Twombly Gallery. Despite some limitations in the design of the Menil Museum, Renzo Piano has certainly added a new building block in inspiring future designers to further examine the potential of daylight integration in museums.