23 TreM.a Namur

The extension of the TreM.a museum raises a guiding question: how can the existing sequence of forecourt-courtyard-mansion-garden be densified while preserving the spatial quality and heritage value embedded in this delicate rhythm of solids and voids?
 
The project begins with a reflection on the garden. What is a garden? What makes an urban garden meaningful and qualitative? Perhaps it is the enclosed garden: the secret garden discovered as a haven of calm within the intensity of the city. The extension reinterprets this condition. Inspired by the classical typology of the pavilion in the park, the project inverts the relationship between architecture and landscape – the garden becomes the heart of the pavilion.
 
The circular form of the extension structures the project and generates a natural movement through the museum. Excavation allows the program to unfold beneath the garden, where the museum’s treasures are literally buried in the earth. At its centre, an oculus draws natural daylight into the subterranean treasure room. 
 
The museum unfolds as a promenade of discoveries – from the street to the courtyard, the garden and finally the underground treasure – where the visitor’s journey culminates in the encounter between a natural treasure, the garden, and the crafted treasures preserved by the museum.