Theorising Design: British Museum - Term Paper Example

Theorising Design When a building is built - it does not matter for what purpose -- it has to serve a function for which it was constructed in the first place, and it should have a form which is the obverse side of function, pleasing and harmonious, blending with the surroundings as part of a seemingly whole, or stand out as something that contrasts with its environment, thereby emphasizing its importance among all the ordinary buildings that swarm around it. You could say that the function is the essence and the form its external manifestation and if the twosome do not hit off well, the result jars on our nerves. But when the structure is right in the centre of a metropolis and was built to house cultural artifacts of an exotic nature, gathered from around the world over long periods of time, representing the history of the whole gamut of civilizations that had come and gone in the days gone by, like the turning of the pages of a book, it has to be something special as the objects stored within, stately as the civilizations it represents, solid against the ephemeral nature of time and space and even grandiose like some of the royal dynasties it protects from the ravages of time. Such a structure is the British Museum which is a resplendent landmark in the great city of London, the capital of the world of yesteryears, the once hub of the empire over which the sun never set, the erstwhile seat of international commerce and finance, the birthplace of modern democracy with a legacy of long history. These are symbolized by certain institutions and structures, which still make up the great city. And prominent among them is this institution that has consistently reflected this universal characteristic of the fine metropolis. It is a comprehensive national museum with particularly remarkable holdings in both archaeology and ethnography amounting to around13 million objects gathred from all continents. Undoubtedly it traces the saga of human culture from its infance to the present. It is known fact the British have a passion for collecting artifacts and once they collect things, they want to catalogue it. Both these acts go hand in hand. It is not collecting just for the sake of it, but to derive aesthetic pleasure from them, to exhibit, to educate and to chronicle the background information of those artifacts, like who created them, to what purpose, their function, what inspired those who made them to make them and the period in which they were made. This passion sometimes amounted to some kind of mania at times and often they were ready to pay any price to acquire them, even imperiling their lives while doing it. And once a collection is ready, there should be a proper place with the right ambience to house them, as they deserve. The British Museum was born and evolved primarily out of this desire to collect and collect. This great museum itself stands as a work of art, albeit of a cosmopolitan kind and the treasures it safeguards within its ramparts reflect this element profusely. Hence this structure and the objects stored within differ only in kind. In all other ways they complement each other and enjoy a synergetic existence, both contributing to each other in more ways that can be enumerated. That is why one at a loss to decide which is greater, the museum or the treasures within. And one also cannot separate the building from its contents for both are parts of a whole and blend into each other with a perfect balance that is nothing short of astounding. Tens of thousands people must have entered its portals and gazed in openmouthed wonder at the exquisite beauty, grand opulence, and the heights of human ingenuity as reflected in the collection and that too at a time when men lacked the modern conveniences and equipment that makes all sorts of development mere child’s play. They marveled both at the superstructure as well as the objects stored within for the ultimate enjoyment and enlightenment of the public. Hence this abode of the gods has a utilitarian facet to it too, compounded by the fact that it is very proletarian in outlook, as it charged no entrance fee from those who wanted to venture inside to get a peep of the treasure trove. An ordinary person can wander into its resplendent interiors and feel enriched in the process. But this grass root level quality does not take away from the grandiloquence of the whole thing, both its interior and exterior. So it has a human side to it too after all which is most edifying. For without this quality, it would have become the haunt of the very elite and the enjoyment derived from it restricted to something that is strictly private and exclusive as compared to the universal significance of its existence. Another noteworthy factor of this institution is that it does not have a humble beginning at all like most museums did in their infancy. It came into being with extensive funds and a more extensive collection of artifacts as a result of the British mania for collecting things and when the effort of housing a particular collection began to burst at the seams, a new wing was added without more ado to the original structure. The great institution has the unique distinction of having both an aesthetically pleasing ambience and housing in its innards the myriad of priceless artifacts of the past collected from all over the world, cutting across the many civilizations that had flourished on earth since time immemorial. It all began long ago in 1753 in Bloomsbury, in the borough of Camden, in the very heart of London in a comparatively modest building called the Montagu House which was purchased to house the then collection of three persons called Sir Hans Sloane, a scientist. Robert Harley, the First Earl of Oxford and Sir Robert Cotton. Actually it was established by an act of Parliament. As its collection overgrew it over the years, it necessitated the demolition of the Montagu House itself and the building of another structure in its stead. At the site of the old museum, there arose a grand superstructure. It was built in the neoclassical style, then prevalent in most of Europe, designed by one of the most prominent architects in England, Sir Robert Smirke. If seen for the fist time it reminds one of the Parthenon and the ancient heritage of Greece, the cradle of the Western civilization. On the side of the Great Russel street, Sir Robert Smirke built the Greek Revival façade style portico which was a favorite with him and can been seen in many of the buildings he had designed. The classic roof was supported elegantly by 44 Ionic columns about 45 feet in height. Its design was inspired by the the temple of Athena Polias at Priene in Asia Minor. The figures on the pediment over the main entrance are designed by Sir Richard Westmacott portraying the theme of The Progress of Civilisation; it consisted of fifteen allegorical figures, beautifully sculptured. Thus it stands now, stately and aesthetically satisfying, a fine landmark in commercial London. The first to come up when the present museum was being built was the King’s Library. It is ‘dome-shaped’ and so vast in its proportions that this first beginning itself became a masterpiece. Don Barker, a freelance photographer based in London states, “The great Round Reading Room became a popular haven, used by such luminaries as Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Oscar Wilde, Leon Trotsky, Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw, and Virginia Woolf.” (Smirke, Robert. The British Museum) The Reading Room is a brick structure but this is not evident from outside. The circular wall is faced with limestone so that it blends favorably with the walls of the central courtyard. This gives an impression of continuity in tune with the chronological passage of those historical events that mark the cherished objects kept inside. The splendor of the Victorian era is clearly discernible in its interior when “The original azure, cream, and gold decorative scheme, discovered beneath several layers of paint, has been fully restored,” as Don Barker explains further. To complement this unique style, to the north side of the cylindrical building an elliptical extension was added adorned with two galleries on four floors. Two grand staircases echoing the circular concept take one to these galleries. “The Reading Room, with its broad encircling staircases, appears somewhat out of proportion, lessening the impact of the porticos in the courtyard, which are grand in their own right but diminutive by comparison.” (Don Barker) Everywhere this concept of the circle is continued which makes one think of the cyclical nature of civilizations as put forward by the eminent historian Arnold Toynbee. Once in the vast room, one’s eyes strays towards the lattice roof that tops the quadrangle like a benediction. It also symbolizes knowledge that never fails to take one into the highest realms of human endeavor, ennobling and edifying, making one feel high and pure, so to speak. The vast canopy is surprisingly delicate and doing away with the need for columns that obstruct the view and prevent one from having an unbroken vista of the whole structure. The result is a stunningly unique geometrical form. In spite of its simple, seemingly fragile nature, it is considered a feat of modern engineering techniques. The extensive radius of about 50 meters of the structure makes the roof curved in shape making the walls and the roof blend seamlessly as if cast from a single continuous substance. These curves together with the unique design of the latticework lends to the space within a curious ambience. The numerous green ceramic pointed dots on the glass panes limit the amount of sunlight filtering into the central court. As a result, it even looks like a dome to the layman’s eye. “The roof seems to float effortlessly above the space providing an ethereal presence, which is a tribute to modern design innovation and technology.”(Don Barker) To restore the original feeling, the previously filled Venetian windows were added “with new capitals and columns on the outside and newly glazed with reverse-frit glass panels,” so Mr. Barker goes on to tell us. And the columns set along the walls as a reinforcement to the load bearing walls were covered with limestone imported from Cabra thereby concealing them effectively, making the wall look like it had never been tampered with as in the initial treatment of the structure. In these times of environmental preoccupations, the neutral tinted glass of the roof is an environmental controller too. And it is no accident that this same Great Court is home to some priceless artifacts brought from many parts of the globe. Like in most public things controversy comes in by the backdoor although a partner in the construction program called de Gray called the great court "a symphony in European lime stones." The controversy stems from the fact that different kinds of Portland stone were used so that one part looks new and the other old. But in time when the new stone wears off its newness it is hoped that things will look the same all over. But one cannot get away from the fact that there is pristineness to the new stone imported from France, which “does nothing but enhance the epic surrealism of the Great Court.” (Don Barker) The architects The Foster and Partners did all these renovations and although there are some flaws in it like most things and perfect beauty is an ideal that can never be attained. Nevertheless, “Covered with a spectacular skylight of glass and steel, the courtyard has become a beautiful arena demanding admiration.” (Don Barker) The completed structure is not homogenous in any way. This called for much criticism from all around. As the museum expanded many new wings were added to it and it was not long before its architecture went out of control. It became a pot pourie of various European architectural styles, but fortunately all these diversity had a unifying factor in the central courtyard from where one could meditate on the scale of the whole edifice. Soon the Great Court also went out of hand with the building of the Reading Room as it often happens under such circumstances. Here from a meticulously planned layout architecture turned labyrinthine. Any building on the scale of The British Museum has to justify itself and its contents. And you cannot separate the edifice from what is stored from within. There cannot be any ambiguity or compromise here. The aesthetic value of the museum should match that of its contents. So here the museum means its contents too. Ironically the outer walls of the edifice has weathered so much that it itself looks like an item of exotic artifact stored within its massive walls. How can precious objects stored within are to be named? “As well tally each leaf of a tree. They come here out of the living minds of generations of men and women now dead - Greek and Assyrian, Aztec and Inuit, Chinese and Indian - who have conceived and carved and hammered and tempered and cast these objects to represent the worlds around them, visible and invisible.” (British Museum Great Court, London. Foster and Partners 2000). Let us turn now to the magnificnece of its interiors. Let us look at the finer exmples of the vast collection of cultural masterpieces including famous antiquities and historic documents inhabiting the maw of the stupendous, labyrinthine structure. Without a doubt, the foremost among them would be the Rosetta stone, more than 2000 years old. It is not very big in its proportions, but it foreshadows everything around it. Discovered in 1799, it helped archaeologists decipher the hieroglyphics inscribed in Egyptian monuments. . Then comes the Elgin Marbles brought to England by Lord Elgin in the nineteenth century. These are ancient Greek sculpture, which was part of the great Parthenon in Athens. They consist of a series of pediments, metopes, and friezes and are housed in the Duveen Gallery. These strangely priceless marbles are also a point of controversy and Greeks want it restored to their original habitat. The British Museum possesses a sprawling, stupendous space of 13.5 acres with hundreds of galleries scattered around its cavernous interiors. Outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the British Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities, which covers almost every important archeological site in Sudan and Egypt. The treasures include the contents of Egyptian royal tombs, a marvelous series of antique jewellery dating back to around 2000 years, cosmetics, diverse kinds of weapons, furniture, and tools. Then there are the seven permanent galleries on the same topic, with hundreds of mummies and coffins housed inside. No wonder this section is a favorite haunt with the myriads of visitors who flock thither. Housed also in its great galleries are the most comprehensive Mesopotamian, Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian antiquities. More than a million cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia are invaluable in its importance for the understanding of the world’s oldest civilizations. Then there are the astronomical instruments used by the ancient Babylonians who were the precursors of Astronomy and the related Astrology. In the Assyrian section there stand the winged lion statues, guardians of Ashurnasirpals palace at ancient Nimrud. Thus in the final analysis, this great museum undoubtedly reflects the structure and what it houses inside it are complementary and synergetic in nature. Due to lack of space, the aesthetic merits of the artifacts mentioned throughout the article are not dealt with. Suffice it to say that The British Museum deserves to play host to these cultural art objects and antiquities that are the universal heritage of the specie of Homo sapiens as a whole. Works Cited British Museum Great Court, London. Foster and Partners 2000. Galinsky 1998-2006. 30 Apr. 2007. . Smirke, Robert. The British Museum. 30 Apr. 2007. . British Museum. Frommer’s Review. Wiley Publishing. 2000. 30 Apr. 2007. . Foster and Partners Roof the Great Court. Architecture Week. Design Department. 14 Feb. 2001. 30 Apr. 2007. . Hooke, Robert. The British Museum. 2003. 30 Apr. 2007. . Don Barker is a freelance writer and photographer in London, UK, who has lived and worked in Europe, Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, and Singapore Read More