A Design for Design

Its only natural that a design museum should be well designed. That's the least we can expect. But Ron Arad's Design Museum in Holon, Israel defies expectations.

The sinuous sculptural form feels like an uncoiling spring. The curved bands peel away from each other as if expressing various degrees of dynamic force. The cantilevered bands create a visual vortex that defines the open courtyard at the center of the museum.

The spatial activity of the courtyard space contrasts with the much calm exterior face of the building, which plays its cards much closer to the vest. The exterior only hints at the unravelling of its horizontal bands by revealing small seams that provide glimpses of the dynamic forces at play.

The curved sculptural bands of the building are not merely ornamental. Each horizontal band is both a structural beam and acts as an exterior shading element. By off-setting the curved beams, they cast shade back on the building- such that the building shades itself. Arad doesn't simply create big swaths of shade, but rather paints with shadows. Crisp curved shadows travel across the building's courtyard through-out the day like a giant surreal sundial.

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