The Affects of Museum Architecture: Louvre-Lens and Museu de Arte de São Paulo

The studies of the Louvre-Lens show how social and relational awareness can be expressed architecturally, as the architecture by SANAA is explicitly anti-monumental and seeks to relate to the site, the inhabitants, and the visitors by being adaptive and responsive to the former mining landscape and context. Inside, visitors are invited to co-create the museum experience by moving freely through the exhibited art works in a setting that seems to re-actualise an experimental exhibition space, which was originally designed by Lina Bo Bardi for Museu de Arte de São Paulo. Through on-site observations, photographs, and literary studies, the paper will compare the two museum spaces by SANAA and Bo Bardi, respectively, including their positions in relation to the urban programs. The paper will propose how architecture can condition and create affects and sensations which immanently connect the social agendas of art institutions to the museum experience.

Keywords: Art Museum, Architecture, Affect