1996.04.18
regarding the Museum of Arts and Crafts
[The Museum of Arts and Crafts at] Frankfurt brings up a series of scale issues all by itself. First there is the relating of a new building to an existing building, and, thereby perhaps, respecting the "scale" of the existing building. Venturi, Rauch & Scott Brown (VRSB) expand the new building by conceptually extruding it in one of its four direction. Essentially, VRSB attempt to turn a square cubic building into a long narrow rectilinear building.
Another scale issue is how the rear of the new wing deceptively becomes larger the further the elevation gets from the existing building. This is done both in plan and in 3-D elevational modulation.
Finally, there is the classical porch articulation at the corner of the new wing. The most obvious scale issue is that the "grand entrance" has been brought down to the ground level. Here the obvious comparison is with the Villa Rotonda and the Altes Museum, and the elevational comparison will be made with both the older buildings on their respective plinths and then without their respective plinths. The point could also be made that VRSB employ both a hierarchical and a democratic manifestation of their porch articulation.
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