Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Competition Entry / Or Regev and Shirly Kujawski

Courtesy of Or Regev and Shirly Kujawski

Or Regev and Shirly Kujawski shared their entry for the new Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, hosted by Sucker Punch Daily.  The project is located at Essex Market in New York City, nearby the Williamsburg Bridge.  The architects approached their design for the proposal for MoCCA as an extension of the media that the museum is designed to house and present.

Read on for more on this project after the break.

Courtesy of Or Regev and Shirly Kujawski

Reflecting on the minimal way in which the imagery of comics and cartoon convey issues ranging from comics for kids to political profound cartoons, the architects established tools, borrowed from this media, to use for their architecture.  Tools such as distortions of perspective, unrealistic scaling, and the ability to include or exclude details were adapted to designing the MoCCA.

Courtesy of Or Regev and Shirly Kujawski

Using the context of the site as a way to orient the project, Regev and Kujawski established the Williamsburg Bridge as the point from which visitors to the city would first glance upon the building.  The first encounter visitors would have is that of a blank facade, like a white piece of paper.  Upon moving west, the building is revealed in its complex spatiality and unfolds to the visitors of the MoCCA.

Courtesy of Or Regev and Shirly Kujawski

The building is read in two main volumes from outside to inside: as a white flattened volume which contains the main movement and public space, and as a colorful 3-D model which contains galleries, an auditorium, a library and lecture halls.

Courtesy of Or Regev and Shirly Kujawski

The minimal footprint of the building is designed to give the neighborhood and the museum more outdoor green spaces.  Furthermore, its positioning give the opportunity for neighborhood residents to shorten their way from Delancey Street to Essex Street.