CONSERVATION AND STORAGE CENTRE OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW

Nizio Design International developed the concept for concours for the New Pavilion — the home of the Conservation and Storage Centre of the National Museum in Warsaw, situated in the southern part of the museum grounds, adjacent to the Książęce Park.

A simple, cuboid volume on a square plan evokes the stone blocks of monumental buildings of the past — a deliberate echo of the Museum’s collections, which include Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities. The elevation of smoothly dressed Szydłowiec sandstone is animated by irregularly placed glazed panels, flush with the stone and woven into its coursing. By day the facade reflects natural light, quietly distinguishing the pavilion from the historic building behind it; at night, when light escapes from within, the building becomes a glowing lantern in the park. To the east, where the ground falls away, the building cantilevers — appearing to hover above the earth and opening its interiors towards visitors through a fully glazed ground-floor facade. Beneath the cantilevered mass, a sheltered arcade will house a café connecting the building to the park through a summer garden terrace.

The building is structured around a central, monolithic core in a box-in-box arrangement, producing a modular layout freely adaptable over the building’s lifetime. An underground corridor provides direct connection to the main museum building. The project is designed to meet passive building standards, with the entire roof surface dedicated to photovoltaics.