Juan Alejandro Saldarriaga Sierra ‘From one Louvre to another’:
jasaldarriagas@unal.edu.co
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Tel-573006153453
Architect from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín (1999). Diplôme d'études approfondies “Jardins, Paysages,
Territoires”, École d'Architecture Paris-la-villette (2002), Docteur École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris (2008).
Works as Associate teacher at the school of architecture in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Medellín since 2010.
Academic Publications:
-SALDARRIAGA, SIERRA, Juan Alejandro, "De la banlieue au Palenque: géographie musicale en Colombie", in LOCATELLI,
Anne (dir.), Réflexions sur la Socialité de la Musique, Paris, L'Harmattan, 217-232, 2007.
-SALDARRIAGA, SIERRA, Juan Alejandro, "La reconstrucción de lo terrígeno en el conflicto entre tierra y mundo": Iconofacto #
7, (2010): 118-133.
-SALDARRIAGA, SIERRA, Juan Alejandro, "Buscando el paisaje en el valle de Aburrá" 5HYLVWD %LWiFRUD 8UEDQR 7HUULWRULal
vol.16 # 1 (2010): 121-136.
-SALDARRIAGA, SIERRA, Juan Alejandro, "No es simplemente la 'promenade architecturale'": interpretaciones de Le
Corbusier y Rogelio Salmona", Dearq # 15 (2015): 116 - 129
-SALDARRIAGA, Alejandro, "Diagrama y Arquitectura: sintaxis espacial en el Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts",
Procceedings of the International Congress /& /H &RUEXVLHU  \HDUV DIWHU, Valencia: Universidad Politécnica de
Valencia, 2028 - 2043, 2015.
-SALDARRIAGA SIERRA, JUAN ALEJANDRO, "Pre-Hispanic walkscapes in Medellín, Colombia" Preventive conservation of
the human environment 6. Architecture as an element of the landscape, Warsow: Res Publica Multiethnica Foundation, 333 -
344, 2017.
-SALDARRIAGA SIERRA, JUAN ALEJANDRO, “Between Internationalism and Regionalism: Anthology of Proa Magazine,
Colombia, 1946–1964”, &ULWLFDOO,,,,QWHUQDWLRQDO&RQIHUHQFHRQ$UFKLWHFWXUDOGHVLJQDQGFULWLFLVP, Madrid: DPA, 148-159, 2018.
International Symposia:
-SALDARRIAGA, Alejandro, "La reconstrucción de lo terrígeno: en el conflicto entre Tierra y Mundo", &RQJUHVR,QWHUQDFLRQDO
de Americanistas, México d.f., 2009.
-SALDARRIAGA, Alejandro, "Landscape Architecture in the Colombian Andes", 64th Annual Meeting of the Society of
Architectural Historians, New Orleans, 2011.
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Cultural Constructs of The Self Through The Other
Sari, Jale1
1 Yasar University, Izmir, Turkey, Jalesari@alumni.ie.edu
Abstract
This paper aims to explore the impacts of employing the Louvre Museum’s ‘universal’ brand on France
and UAE’s national identity construction processes. The text looks into brand’s role in accommodating
forms of cultural exchange between these two countries, and the use of museum’s collections as cultural
capital by the UAE in establishing legitimacy for the new Arab identity and its national aspirations. Such
cultural exchange programs expose the hardship of creating and maintaining a ‘natural dialogue’ bet-
ween the two ends. While Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi explores the ‘shared themes’ that aims to
connect humanity, within a ‘universal’ museum format that showcases borrowed global artworks; Louvre
Museum in Paris reflects a ‘certain’ idea of the world with its comprehensive collections of acquired
items. The problem lies in their difference at forming of the ‘universality’ that insists on decontextualiza-
tion as this causes a reduction of self’s capacity to both speak and be heard like pointed out by Spivak.
Text questions the relevance of a universal museum and cultural exchanges that allow the ‘other’ to
gain universal recognition in establishing an authentic identity. These two museums in that sense, are
critical to compare and reveal the fabricated need for cultural dependency on the ‘West’ that is happe-
ning through the cultural exchange programs. It further highlights the embracement of othering as these
exchanges are becoming an economic strategy instead of a cultural one for countries looking to gain
acceptance and set a critical precedent within the region and world.
Keywords: authenticity, cultural construct, cultural exchange, ethic, contemporary architecture




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 1. Introduction these national identity construction times (Macdonald, 2011). Besides curating these ideas and senti-
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Museums have been closely linked to power structures and became an essential tool of identity for- mental values through artifacts, museums also represented stability and continuity in time with their
mation practices by embodying its cultural capitals throughout the time (Loukaitou-Sideris & Grodach 'immemorial forms.' This objectification of the culture through form and materiality allowed these senti-
2004). They were instrumental for authorities to deliver and communicate their core values and materi- mental values to be experienced, making these imposed ideologies and values felt 'real,' even 'factual'
alize their national identity (Alexander & Alexander 2008). Although the past perceptions of identity may (Handler, 1988:14).
seem irrelevant in today's transnational contexts, the idea of embodying cultural values through muse-
The museums' materiality and curation in that sense hold significant importance in shaping national
ums appears to resonate in GCC countries, visible by the increasing numbers of national museums.
values. When compared, although they share the same brand, the Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum design
While some of these museums focus on representing a single and a uniformed narrative like Qatar
shows no resemblance to the palatial look of the Louvre in Paris. Designed by Pritzker Award winner
National Museum, National Museum of Saudi Arabia, and Zayed National Museum, some others explore
Jean Nouvel, the museum building is an elaborate interpretation of 'medina,' a street typology found in
shared themes that inform and connect humanity in a universal museum. Through the 'universal' format,
Arab architecture. While the dominant palatial look of Louvre Paris represents a significant ray of histor-
some established museums have had a chance to collaborate with some other countries to display
ical forms and memories, Abu Dhabi Louvre aims to have a culturally-rooted form to affirm its authenticity.
universal value artifacts in places other than their own. As much as granting a broader audience to the
With this contextually sensitive design, the building legitimizes its entire existence as being ethical. Be-
promoter countries, this process allows the beneficiary countries to profit significantly by tapping into the
ing no stranger to working in the other's lands, the architect addressed the building's aim to 'resonate'
resources of established entities to gain legitimization and acceptance at a broader level, as it happened
with its geographical and historical context and address its universality (see architecturaldigest/jean-
with the universal Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum. Critique of the situation does emerge when this process
nouvel). The museum also holds significant importance as it is the first one to get built from the five
becomes a tool for entities to carry out their political and economic objectives. The concern here is, then,
planned museums in Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island Cultural District as part of an emerging museumscape.
to understand the impacts of using the brand Louvre and its technologies of representation in the form
Pritzker winner architects designed all of the five museums on this district, and the whole island is a big
of a universal museum for UAE's activities to express and establish an authentic character when the
master plan devoted to the promotion of arts and culture, which puts Abu Dhabi's name into the global
name Louvre is closely linked with France's identity and history. It is essential to understand the univer-
scene. In that sense, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is the first realized part of this grand urban vision and forms
sal museum's relevance to the identity construction process when it is difficult to neutralize the notion of
an experiential piece of its identity construction processes.
identity to a single and unified concept. As museums filter through their country's ethics and politics and
re(present) objects transitionally and transnationally in an inherently postcolonial way, it is crucial to 3. Museums: Othering and Agency
consider the possibility of universal museums addressing the dilemmas mentioned above (Nora 1989).
The term 'universal museum' refers to the ten museums in North America and nine museums in Europe
that have 'diverse and multifaceted' collections sourced from around the world, not only from the country
they belonged to (Schuster, 2004). With the intention of a disservice to all their visitors, universal muse-
ums put together these collected items and associated artifacts in the universal museums. While it is
inevitable not to maintain an individual perspective on these objects' presentation, they also uproot the
items from their unique historical and geographical context. Above all, by resourcing these collections
through cultural exchange programs or partnering, universal museums 'allow' visitors to view these ar-
tifacts through their filter of 'contemporary politics' and 'international relations' in various other locations
and obtain a global status for their 'certain' views. In this sense, the recently completed Abu Dhabi
Louvre Museum, which partnered with The Louvre Museum in France, evokes questions about employ-
ing a universal museum as an outlet for the national identity construction process. Embracing this 'cer-
tain perspective' by hosting (re)presentations of a questionable perception of the past (Burlingame 2014),
UAE tries to enhance its nation's identity by promoting these particular views under the name of inter-
nationalism. It is crucial to discuss the possible impacts of such dialogues as the UAE tries to set a
precedent primarily within the region and later on a universal scale.
2. From one Louvre to another
Drawing on the sources outlined above, museums allow people to reflect on their feelings towards be-
longing to a culture and place. Instead of a lived social relationship, museums can help people form a
cultural bond through shared knowledge, representation, and symbolism (Anderson 1983). By employ-
ing the power of collective memory that links certain feelings to historical objects, cultural constructs
define the perception of national identity (Renan 1998). By framing the ways of seeing, museums shape
consciousness to form national attachment over time.
After the change in the perception of nation-state ideas starting in the 18th century, the concept of
national identity transformed from a 'container' that accommodates the royal family's people to 'a public'
of citizens. Through this transformation, museums became the place that can infuse these new ideas
and gather people together by housing representations of the newly formed sentimental values (Mac-
donald, 2011). The appearance of the national identity and emergence of public museums at the end of Fig. 1
the 18th century were closely linked to each other's existence. Transformations of private collections to
public museums were symbolic to indicate what was once royal now became public. The Louvre's shift- Aiming to illustrate relatable experiences of a shared history beyond the geographical and ethnic differ-
ing into a universal museum came out of the political situations that shaped the country as a nation- ences through the landed artifacts from The Louvre Museum in Paris (see tamm.abudhabi/museums),
state. Louvre, as a royal gallery, symbolized royalty and the idea that the nation belonged to the royals. the building embodies twenty-three galleries spaces situated under a great dome. The intricacy of this
However, Louvre as a public museum was a great indicator of the change that now the nation was the elaborate dome lets the 'rain of light' through the openings in its complex geometry, and the museum
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sum of public life and its people. Louvre became a tool for citizens to tap into their country's wealth in
return for their adherence (Duncan and Wallach 1980). Regardless of these changes in the power struc-
tures, the Louvre's role was to excite and inspire its visitors and communicate these power structures'
ideas. Museums were able to link collective personal memories to a shared concept of history by the
objects that express a 'national identity' in a space surrounded by the particular technologies to repre-
sent this identity. By bringing items to display for its people, even if it meant through colonial activities,
Louvre proved a sense of capacity for its government to power and control beyond its boundaries during
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space becomes a stage for hosting the modern interpretation of dynamic shadow cast from the palm
trees in an oasis that signifies UAE's native elements. Embodied symbolically and materially in this
elaborate Arabic architectural form, The Louvre Abu Dhabi's program rest on twelve chronological
themes that span across 'all historical periods' up to the present (see louvreabudhabi.ae/museum-gal-
leries). Starting from the Museum's first gallery, the curation aims to build up a universal story with a
display of objects brought together from across the world like masks, mother and child images, and
writing implements that show similarity in a first instance. With no to little explanation on why and how

561
 these objects formed and used differently in their different origins, the curation of this 'similarity' unfor-
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tunately works to decontextualize these objects and flatten the diverse background and cultural context
they came out of (Hammond, 2018) (Fig. 1.). Museum's primary aim to celebrate diversity and encour-
age curiosity (see presse.louvre.fr/abudhabi) became redundant and transformed into a collection of
similar images collected from the same time around the world in the name of universality. Compared to
the Louvre Paris's nuanced collections that intensely focus on narrow time frames with complexity (Fig.
2), representations of objects in Abu Dhabi Louvre that come from a widespread timeline, reduced to
'an abstract identity' (Biln, 1997) of the culture and time they represent.
Fig. 2.
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Fig. 3.
562
The continuous experience of observing the items in another object's coexistence (Fig. 3.) indicates the
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derivable and reducible values of the displayed objects. By seeing the prioritization of the particular
objects or the cultures, this self-constructed "centering" of the Louvre brand almost immediately notifies
the visitors and 'lock' the borrowed items on display in a closed discourse of sameness (Spivak, 1987;
Biln, 1997) according to a self. According to Spivak, the identities and the values attributed through
these objects on display are social and shaped by specific contexts. However, people have the agency's
ability, which makes this discourse of identity exchange between positioning and the agency. In that
sense, this selective rendering of the objects and the program indicates the emphasis and the value
inherited from the Louvre in Paris.
The dynamics of this centering around the Louvre's name also symbolizes a transformation of a cultural
embodiment to a commercial one for France while it allows UAE to earn validity and establish recognition
by using this name. As the first universal Museum out of Europe and North America, Abu Dhabi Louvre
unfolds discussions around the 'self-other' relationships. Initiated by the two governments, this arrange-
ment is planned to be a thirty-year agreement consists of Louvre Paris's executive advice, object loaning,
and the use of Louvre's brand for $1.27 billion. Through this partnership, Abu Dhabi aims to promote its
internationalism as a contextually rooted one. Aiming to (re)tell the stories of the region in a universal
arena, Abu Dhabi aspires to improve the image of the Arab culture,' (re)construct an identity' for it, and
transform itself into a cultural center (Ajana, 2015) and a tourist attraction by these borrowed items.
Although this partnership helps the country get acquainted and gain universal recognition and inclusion
by using the Louvre's name as a point of reference, they also risk creating an authentic and ethical
image. The criticality of the matter comes from its emergence to expose the fact that such a degree of
exchange is more than a cultural one but becoming an economic strategy for countries looking to gain
legitimacy and acceptance. The process of' manufacturing' a global recognition through The Louvre's
cultural capital, Abu Dhabi Louvre, circulates the Louvre Museum's specific ideas and flags a critical
danger for promoting the generalization of such themes.
4. Conclusion
The exchange program between the two Louvres highlights both sides of the story of the circulation of
symbolic value and cultural capital procurement in a universal museum format. By tracing a genealogy
of the matter and highlighting the motivations that fashioned this case, this paper aimed to present the
conflict of embracing othering to portray an authentic self. This specific cultural exchange program's
reductionist concept indicates a problem resulting from neglecting social and cultural relevance in iden-
tity-forming processes. By failing to form a natural dialogue between the represented artifacts, Abu
Dhabi Louvre Museum underscores the importance of getting a distance from the preconceived ideas
of the representation of others. With manufacturing familiarity and loyalty with landed artifacts, Abu
Dhabi Louvre museum sets a controversial precedent on how to gain international acceptance and can
become a global model. The core of this discussion also lies in transforming culture from 'shared values'
to an economic asset through these exchange programs (Ajana, 2015) at the cost of a bias towards
Western approaches over the grassroots artistic expressions. The aspiration of it all to present a com-
parison to consider the new dynamics of future cultural developments and the Museum's evolving ide-
ology to recognize its consequences.
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 ,PDJH&DSWLRQV
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Fig. 1. Figures from different cultures on display in Civilizations and Empires. Louvre Abu Dhabi. Photography by Marc Domage.
Accessed on September 10, 2020. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/sponsored/step-inside-louvre-abu-dhabi-180968376/
Fig. 2. Salle Gilbert et Rose Marie Chagoury. Musée du Louvre. Photography by Olivier Ouadah. Accessed on September 10,
2020. https://www.louvre.fr/en/department-decorative-arts-new-galleriesfrom-louis-xiv-louis-xvi-art-french-living
Fig. 3. Dancing Shiva, Hindu divinity. Christopher Pike. The National. Photography by Christopher Pike. Accessed on September
10, 2020. https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/louvre-abu-dhabi-the-long-awaited-first-look-inside-1.673668

5HIHUHQFHV
Ajana, Btihaj. “Branding, legitimation, and the power of museums: The case of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.” Researchgate, July 2015.
Accessed June 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280879781.
Alexander, E. P., & Alexander, M. Museums in motion: An introduction to the history and functions of museums. Lanham,: Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers. 2007. 
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983.
Biln, John. "(de)Forming Self and Other” en: Gulsum Baydar Nalbantoglu and Wong Chong Thai. In Postcolonial Space(s): Essays
on Other Architectural Cultures. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1997.
Duncan, Carol, And Wallach, Alan. “The Universal Survey Museum.” Researchgate, December 1980. Accessed June 2020.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263520712_The_Universal_Survey_Museum
Gomez, Edward. ”A Louvre for Abu Dhabi? It's a done deal”. SFGATE, March 2007. Accessed June 2020.
https://blog.sfgate.com/worldviews/2007/03/13/a-louvre-for-abu-dhabi-its-a-done-deal/.
Grodach, Carl, and Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia. “Cultural development strategies and urban revitalization”. International Journal
of Cultural Policy, November 2007. Accessed June 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240536336.
Handler, Richard. Nationalism and the Politics of Culture in Quebec. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988.
Katherine, Burlingame. “Universal Museums: Cultural and Ethical Implications.” Researchgate, October 2014. Accessed June
2020. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299594822_Universal_Museums_Cultural_and_Ethical_Implications.
Macdonald, Sharon. 2011. “Museums, national, postnational and transcultural identities: Research on Marxist Aesthetics”.
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2020. doi:10.2307/2928520.
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6SLYDN *D\DWUL &KDNUDYRUW\ ³$ /LWHUDU\ 5HSUHVHQWDWLRQ RI WKH 6XEDOWHUQ $ :RPDQெV 7H[W IURP WKH 7KLUG :RUOG´ HQ 6SLYDN
Gayatri Chakravorty. In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics. New York: Methuen, 1987.
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Design in Different Scales:
Two Projects by Pier Luigi Nervi 
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Smeragliuolo Perrotta, Luisa1
1 University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy,lsmeragliuoloperrotta@unisa.it
Abstract 
In 1956, the Italian engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, with the architect Annibale Vitellozzi, built the Small
Sports Palace in Rome. The Olympic Games, planned for 1960, required the construction of sports
facilities to host the competitions. Nervi's solution, especially for the dome, was considered a low-cost,
simple-to-build design, to be replicated as a prototype in other Italian cities. Things happened
differently. The engineer was busy with other buildings for the Olympic Games and the Small Sports
Palace was never replicated.
The project became instead the prototype of a different experience for the Italian engineer. In America
10 years later, he was able to export his construction method. He was invited as a senior lecturer to
prestigious universities, his books were translated and he designed famous architectures. During his
American experience, Nervi was involved with developments in Norfolk, a city in the state of Virginia
with an ambitious urban renewal program that included a new Cultural and Convention Center. 
From the very first drawings published in local newspapers, it was apparent that the design of the
dome reproduced the same geometry as the Small Sports Palace in Rome. In the Norfolk Scope
Arena, the dimensions of the dome are twice the size of the dome in Rome, which raises the question
of how Nervi dealt with the project.
The aim of this paper is to compare the two solutions that start from the same concept but are
designed for different places and scales. The paper deals with the comparison between the two
projects through architectural issues including the copy, model, and repetition. Through the theoretical
issues and visual and geometric comparison between the two design projects, this research aims to
improve the history of the two buildings through a new point of view about relationships between
buildings with the same designer.
Keywords: scale, copy, model, forms, dome.
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