Located in Houston, Texas, the Menil Collection houses the art collection of Dominique and John de Menil, covering a total area of over 2,800 sqm. The couple’s vision for the museum was to create a home-like space that could exhibit and safely store their collection while preserving the integrity of the surrounding community. As a result, the Menil Collection is designed with a humble approach in terms of form, scale, orientation, materiality, and programmatic layout. It seamlessly blends with its residential neighborhood without disrupting the preexisting surroundings. The museum sits in the heart of a residential area, and with its wraparound portico, it subtly echoes the bungalows and deep porches of the neighboring homes. Its grey cypress cladding further mirrors the grey-painted façades of many nearby houses.

This museum is a celebration of light. The guiding principle of the design was the thoughtful integration of natural light, despite the unpredictable nature of Texas weather, where gusts of wind can swiftly alter the sky. This ever-changing light creates a dynamic, shifting atmosphere within the museum. To harness this effect, natural light is carefully controlled and filtered through a series of meticulously designed louvers, known as a ‘solar machine,’ which modulate the light at varying angles. This resulted in the creation of a curved structural element made from 25mm-thick ferro-cement, referred to as a ‘leaf.’ With a cross-section of 130 x 90 cm and varying thickness, these leaves—repeated 291 times—form the inner layer of the roof, filtering daylight at different times of the day. Each leaf is supported by a steel grid and arranged horizontally, creating both an impressive structural pattern and captivating light effects. The curvature of each ‘leaf’ not only influences how natural light flows into space but also frames views of the sky from specific positions inside the museum.

In keeping with the key design principles and final implementation of the Menil Collection, we were tasked with consolidating all the information into a two-and-a-half-dimensional architectural model to represent the museum’s concept.