The Museum of Ephemera: Museum of City and Sea, The Bond Store

Abstract

As a redesign for the Museum of Wellington City and Sea on Jervois Quay, the 'Museum of Ephemera' was challenged to engage the new while taking into consideration the historic elements of the existing building. The recently renovated historic Board Room and the original staircase were seen as place holders to which the new intervention responded. Not only were the historic elements of the building important as a driver for the design but also the function of the building over the period of its history played an important roll in challenging this new tectonic intervention to take a strong position in relation to the existing context of the Bond Store. The building's historic use as a warehouse was one of the driving forces of the design. The elevator that takes you up as you enter is the allegorical crane that has placed the intervention elements where they belong. The bridges that cross over into the museum appear like the arms of a crane that are placed over the boardroom and the historic staircase, locking them in place. The "warehouse" tracks that hold the exhibits are the storage systems used to hold the objects from the past. The Museum of Wellington City and Sea refers to part of its exhibits as ephemera. Taking that into consideration the intervention moves from solid to ephemeral, the solid represented by the administrative areas and the ephemeral by the museum exhibition areas. It passes through this transition with the historic boardroom acting as a datum line around which this transition occurs. This project challenges the idea of ephemeral not only through movement and temporality but also through reflection, glass and light. It uses the historic skeleton of an existing building and builds a new flesh upon and within it that encourages transformation. This new flesh retains the memory of its existing historic building. It not only retains its structure and historic elements but also keeps the flowing language of its split floor levels. This contemporary intervention is disengaged from the existing context yet responds to it and acknowledges it to make 'The Museum of Ephemera'