Metaphor in architecture: The international UFO museum and research museum Roswell, NM

Date

2000-05

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Abstract

Humans have long searched for the answers to the mysteries of the universe. One of the most debated questions in recent memory is the possible existence of life outside our planet. In 1947, something crashed outside of Roswell, NM. Many people maintain this was an alien craft crashing into the New Mexico desert. According to popular theory, The United States Government covered up the crash and has denied the existence of extra-ten-estrial life. The interest in the UFO phenomenon has increased over recent years, necessitating the need for a facility where believers and skeptics can observe the "evidence" and debate their opinions of the subject. Thesis Statement: Parts of a form can be re-ordered and re-assembled into an entirely new entity without obliterating the essence of the first. The design for a UFO museum can be generated from the unorganized chaosof the wreckage of a UFO. Facility Type: This facility is to become the new home of the International UFO Museum and Research Center, headquartered in Roswell, NM. The building will contain flexible spaces within, similar to the flexibility of the craft to be reconstituted into a building. The facility will provide 25,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space divided among several galleries, a planetarium/ omnimax theater, a cyber cafe, gift shop, a research library, dormitory space for visiting scholars, and space for administration and storage. Context: Immediately adjacent to the Roswell Convention Center and the Roswell Art Museum, the site will reinforce the immediate area as a developing cultural center for the city and the surrounding communities. Located less than a mile North of downtown and a historical residential district, and less than a mile south of the New Mexico Military Institute, the site is centrally located with easy access for residents and tourists. High visibility will be critical for the museum, although tourists come from around the world to visit the current museum.

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Keywords

Architecture, Museum buildings -- Design, Metaphor, Unidentified flying objects -- Museums, Roswell (N.M.)

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