Situated at the Southern tip of Roosevelt Island’s loop roadway, the Four Freedoms Foundation Museum is envisioned as a defining transition between the educational and residential neighborhoods to the north and the public recreational and cultural amenities to the North of the island. 

The island has been historically used for its seclusion, to serve as a place of isolation and desolation, in the form of an asylum, a prison and a refuge for smallpox patients. Today, the island has opened itself up to educational, cultural and residential uses, and therefore, bringing about the opportunity to pay homage to the principles of the Four Freedoms, as dictated by Franklin D Roosevelt. The Four Freedoms are as follows: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom of Want and Freedom of Fear. 

This project intends to ignite the spirit of freedom within the visitors and guide them through the four freedoms in a ceremonial and sequential journey, which is informed and led through pockets of natural light.

Natural light plays a vital role in the visual perception of spaces. In a museum, the quality of light and visual perception is at the forefront of a visitor's experience. Therefore, this project experiments with the impression that natural light adds to the museum experience.

The dynamic nature of daylighting can be anywhere from serene and calm to ethereal and invigorating, depending on the weather, time, or season. Spaces that can transform the quality and experience of the exhibition make each visit unique and distinct from the rest. 

In the context of the program, the four freedoms are further re-interpreted with a new perspective, to complement the needs of a new age where freedom is of the individual and the collective, and therefore, each essential freedom is essential to the next as the collective is composed of several individuals.

View Project in Full