Urban Lab Global Cities (ULGC): OMA Revealed National Museum of Archeology and Earth Sciences design

1/10/2011

OMA Revealed National Museum of Archeology and Earth Sciences design

OMA has revealed images of the National Museum of Archeology and Earth Sciences design. This building aims at acting as a catalyst for Rabat's development. It is located in Rabat, on the gardens of the Lyautey Residence. This residence, which is one of Rabat's highest point, used to house Morocco's French colonial administrator, Hubert Lyautey.

National Museum of Archeology and Earth Sciences (MNAST), OMA, Rabat, Morocco, © OMA. Originally appeared on evolo.

The building is a long, flat isosceles triangle which will engage a dialogue with the Lyautey residence.

Lyautey Residence. Photography originally appeared on Mon Nuage.

The choice of this shape is explained in three axes on the site: Franklin Roosevelt Avenue which faces the city in the earth, the park in the north, and the Lyautey Residence and formal gardens in the south-west.

National Museum of Archeology and Earth Sciences (MNAST) — Plan of the site, OMA, Rabat, Morocco, © OMA
This plan shows the three axes on site: the park, the city and Lyautey Residence. Image originally appeared on architecture lab.

As the MNAT takes advantage of the presence of the Lyautey Residence, the residence's gardens seem to wrap the site and the future building creating a luxury harmony between the site/building and its immediate surrounding.

Museum National of Archeology and Earth Sciences, OMA, Rabat, Morocco, © OMA

The images of the interiors show a unity of earth sciences and archeology under one roof following a chronological field of 4,5 million years of Moroccan history. The northern side of the triangular building will house the emergence of man; the eastern side will contain earth sciences; and the western side will be dedicated to the historical events until the contemporary era.