The Philadelphia Athenaeum of Curiosities 2050

The Philadelphia Athenaeum of Curiosities 2050

Bair, Kelly

Chicago, IL, USA

2014

005-LF-P040

Central Standard Office of Design

Professional

Athenaeum of Curiosities is based on the premise that humans will have a highly developed sense of memory through the preservation and interaction with physical objects of the past. While the project anticipates technological material advancement (i.e. façade systems made of archival glazing assemblies), it takes an opposite approach to the “everything will be digital” mantra of recent years. The proposal speculates on the possibility for architecture to institute change through the spatial, organizational, and effects-driven accumulation of historic objects. Hoarder-like in its overabundance and John Soane-esque in its careful curation of object types to create microcosms of the world, Athenaeum of Curiosities is a future projection on our attachment to objects and the potential for architecture to allow us to not just view them but to inhabit them.

There will always be things. Physical things, things that provide us with a sense of a past that we’ve never witnessed, things that give us a tangible connection to the materials and methods of those that came before us and most importantly, things that tell us stories of our future. Athenaeum of Curiosities is a portal to these things. Overabundant in its display of physical objects (books, art, artifacts), it is an architecture that projects on immersive experiences through both space and objects. Objects become façade and furniture turns spatial as the Athenaeum of 2050 celebrates the preservation of physical and material effects in the world.

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