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04/27/2006: "THE XUL SOLAR MUSEUM: ADVENTUROUS ARCHITECTURE"
“…a small project, secret and intimate, but also exemplary, sensitive, and extremely pampered by its architect.”
Located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Barrio Norte, this small, almost tiny, museum exhibits the work of renowned Argentine surrealist painter, Xul Solar. The work of Solar is fascinating, filled with religious and mythological symbolism and references to astrology, numerology and the tarot, and the 86 paintings and objects housed in the museum make for a deliriously entertaining tour of the artist’s peculiar “cosmovision”. But a visit to the museum unveils a second entertaining surprise: the museum itself.
The above quote comes from a speech given by Catalan architect Oscar Tusquets Blanca upon awarding the museum building building and its architect, Argentine Pablo Tomás Beitía, the Década Architectural Prize in 2003. The terms chosen by Tusquets Blanca to describe the work – “secret”, “intimate”, “pampered” – point to the project’s subtle intricacies of levels and detailing that can only truly be appreciated “in situ”. The experience of the building feels like a trip through an Escher drawing: stairways that climb and descend, catwalks passing over and under, landings and mezzanines, open terraces and hidden alcoves, masses and voids, all converging around a 3-dimensional axis of natural light that marks the center of the building’s irregular atrium. It’s an architectural trip not readily understood in plan, only in section – and not merely in one or two sections, but in several.
The term “pampered” seems especially appropriate, as a slow and methodical perusal of the space and its architectural materials – reinforced concrete, metal railings, mullionless glass – reveals details reminiscent of the work of Carlo Scarpa, quiet yet rich in structural, material, and textural expression. The subtlety of the detailing is sometimes quite unexpected, leaving one with the conclusion that many of these could have only been fully worked out in the field. (Side note for architects: progressively, you’ll find that heart-warming, idealized images of the old-school master architect begin to swim around in your head, like beautiful, sparkling goldfish, swishing back and forth… Not to worry: as soon as you exit the building, you’ll be quickly brought back to reality.)
The original structure is over one hundred years old – a long two-story building with four adjoining flats, on a 400 square meter lot. Starting in the year 1929, until his death in 1963, the artist Solar lived in the largest of the flats and rented the other three. After Solar’s death, his widow, Micaela Cárdenas, spear-headed an effort to convert the dwellings into a museum. In 1986, she formed the Pan Klub Foundation to bring the museum idea to fruition and to, in turn, protect and preserve the artist’s work. The widow then selected young architect, and long-time friend, Pablo Beitía to design the proposed museum. Beitía worked 6 years (from 1987 to 1993) to resolve the project’s contradictory proposal of converting a discreet private space into an expansive public one and integrating the original architectural structure into a new ample environment suitable for a wide array of artistic activities. During the latter years of his life, Solar had expressed a strong distaste for the traditional museum and dreamed of creating a space more akin to a theatre space or an open workshop; Beitía aimed to remain true to this dream.
The architect’s solution was to preserve and restore all but a single bay of the masonry street façade, replacing the demolished bay with a glass storefront, an understated move that signals the bolder play between new and old to come inside. Within, he preserved Solar’s residence in its entirety, but otherwise, selected to preserve only a few pieces of the original party walls, arcades and columns. He filled the freed space with planes and masses of glass and concrete, using these to shape and define the exhibition mezzanines, the auditorium, the open assembly space, the library, and the private offices. The resulting spatial play of up-and-down, via short ascending and descending staircases, promotes a loose, agenda-less journey through the volume, a journey that sometimes leads to yet unknown areas and, at other times, to dead ends…
Speaking of ends – the final conclusion: an appropriately playful and adventurous museum for the work of a playful and adventurous artist.
The Xul Solar Museum is located at Laprida 1214. For images and drawings of the museum, visit: http://www.arquitectura.com/arquitectura/latina/obras/cultura/xul/museo.asp
By Verónica Caminos, 2006.
