© Iwan Baan
Simple, interlocking volumes determine the design of the Insect Museum in Carrières-sous-Poissy, on the perimeter of the Paris metropolitan region. As well as the exhibition spaces for the collection of live and preserved insects the building also houses the seminar rooms and work spaces of the institute attached to the museum. In addition the new building also functions as the entrance and visitor centre for a recently laid-out 113 hectare landscape park on the Seine.
Gently inclined ramps draw visitors from the extensive grounds into the building that is raised above the ground. The five interlocking volumes create flowing interior spaces, their character shaped by the structural timber frames and the reoccurring pitched roofs. The way in which the individual volumes intersect produces unusual spatial geometries and unexpected groupings of columns, which at places even evoke the legs of insects.
Gently inclined ramps draw visitors from the extensive grounds into the building that is raised above the ground. The five interlocking volumes create flowing interior spaces, their character shaped by the structural timber frames and the reoccurring pitched roofs. The way in which the individual volumes intersect produces unusual spatial geometries and unexpected groupings of columns, which at places even evoke the legs of insects.