The Lawn Axis
Renewal Project
草坪轴线更新计划
TypeDesign Proposal
设计提案
Locale
Jardin des Plantes, Museum of Natural History, Paris, France
巴黎自然历史博物馆植物园
Year
2023
Collaborator
WU Xiaohang
吴肖行
While it successfully introduced knowledge of plants and animals to modern society, the Museum of Natural History in Paris historically became a public space for the cultural consumption of exoticism as well. Meanwhile, the Museum’s epistemological culture of viewing nature in a taxonomic system remains rather one-dimensional, which has rarely evolved ever since its establishment.
巴黎自然历史博物馆在成功地将动植物知识引入现代社会的同时，也曾一度成为消费异国文化的公共空间。同时，博物馆以分类系统看待自然的认识论文化仍然相当单一，自成立以来几乎没有发生过改变。
The design proposal adapts the architectural icon of the stupa from Laos and Myanmar (two former French colonies) and places them in the Museum forecourt. Without interior space to enter, these stupas can only be circulated around. This exteriority also means any direct observation from viewers would be rejected, which deviates from the exhibition logic of the Natural Museum. Additionally, a traditional stupa has interior space to store a piece of tree trunk, for which the orientation is maintained the same as how the woods once grew on earth. In the proposal, sampled trunks of nine native plant species from France are sealed in nine stupas to carry on in-situ practice, forming a contrast as well as a dialogue with the ex-situ conservation work in the Grandes Serres nearby.
设计方案借鉴了老挝和缅甸（两个前法国殖民地）的舍利塔建筑标志，将其置于博物馆前院。由于没有内部空间可进入，这些舍利塔只能被绕行，这种外部性也意味着观众无法直接观察，由此提示着一种异于博物馆展示逻辑的保存思维。此外，传统的舍利塔内部有空间会存放一根树干，树干的朝向与树木在地上生长时的朝向一致。方案中，从法国采集的九种本土植物树干样本被封存在九个舍利塔中进行就地实践，与附近大玻璃房的迁地保护工作形成对比与对话。
Except for the anchored main stupa, eight smaller ones can be arrayed in different patterns for flexible programming, conserving the site as an open ground for the Museum and the neighborhood. Aligned with the heroic statues of Buffon and Lamark, these exotic architectural structures stand for an introspective understanding of nature, which enriches the symbolic meaning of the cultural axis in the Jardin des Plantes. In the urban context of central Paris, the stupa combination also echoes the Grand Louvre Project located three kilometers away, which introduced a modernized form of Pyramid to la Cour Napoléon and changed the spirit of place forever.
除了固定的主佛塔外，八个较小的佛塔可以以不同的方式排列，以实现灵活的规划，从而将该场地保留为博物馆和社区的开放空间。这些异国情调的建筑结构与布冯和拉马克的英雄雕像相呼应，代表着对自然的内省理解，丰富了植物园文化轴线的象征意义。在巴黎市中心的城市背景下，佛塔组合也呼应了三公里外的卢浮宫项目，该项目将现代化的金字塔形式引入拿破仑庭院，并永远改变了此处的地方精神。
From collecting exotics to embracing alternative views of nature, the design experiments with using exoticism to set a new trajectory of cultural evolution for the Museum of Natural History.
从收集外来物种到拥抱有关 “自然” 的另类观点，该设计尝试利用异国情调为自然历史博物馆设定新的文化演变轨迹。
玻璃金字塔与白塔集群：地处巴黎城市的两个异域标志