STUDY CENTER FOR GALILEO

In 2009, the city of Florence, Italy was celebrating the “Year of Galileo” with exhibitions, symposia, and other events. Since there is no single place dedicated solely to Galileo within the city, I designed a center for scholarly study of the astronomer’s work which includes an archive for his documents, a reading room, and gardens for a site in the center of Florence. 

The center’s form is based around framed views, like those seen when viewing a small part of the sky through a telescope. A pair of ribbon walls create an entrance path with two distinctly framed views and intertwine the structure, site, and street. Transparent walls and windows on the upper and lower levels frame visitors’ views into the front and rear gardens respectively.