Guggenheim competition

"The aim of the (Switch International Design) competition was to offer a chance to participants to recreate the iconic (Solomon R. Guggenheim) Museum (in New York)... with an entirely fresh perspective.” A design prepared by Prof Percy Pithawala of the School of Environmental Design and Architecture, Navrachana University, Baroda, and his team won the first place. The results were announced on September 25, 2018. Speaking to Parsiana on November 27, Pithawala acknowledged the support of teaching assistant Dhruv Shah and other students.

The winning design, the "Guggenheim Repository,” envisaged a public plaza space amidst the high-rise density of Manhattan, with the functional areas and art galleries being accommodated at various subterranean levels in a "trench” dug 300 m below the ground surface, noted a detailed email from the professor. "From the entrance plaza level, one descends to the very bottom of the pit through high speed elevators, and commences a reverse journey upward from ‘darkness to light,’” he noted.
The team’s second proposal, "Tall Museum Typology” was awarded an honorable mention among the top 10 entries. This "museum of the future” was envisaged as an iconic hybrid skyscraper. In this design, "blobs” of varying forms interconnect with each other to accommodate the art galleries. "The conservatory at the pinnacle provides scenic vantage points overlooking the (Central) Park, with a public plaza at street level serving as an extension to the Park,” wrote Pithawala.
Established in 1939, in 1959, the Museum moved to its current building, a landmark work of 20th century architecture. The cylindrical building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is wider at the top than the bottom.
According to their website, Switch is a "unique and innovative platform designed to facilitate architecture and design fraternity with a chance to step into the shoes of great architects and redesign/recreate some of their best works of architecture.”
Interested in exploring interdisciplinary linkages between architecture and the fine arts, Pithawala’s masters thesis in urban design was titled "Redevelopment of Battery Park City in New York.”