Contextuality within a project seems to play a strange role today. With projects beginning to diverge from the past sustainable practices and from the exuberant technotopia projects, we find ourselves in sort of a strange time. The use of material, vernacular, form, and context are all making a return to the discourse. Phenomenology has now taken the forefront yet again, surpassing the rational technologies of the future with more mysticism and atmosphere. This project seems to lie on this strange line between past, present, and future. Similar to the program itself, or the land around it, the Iquique Archaeological Museum situates itself not in the distant future, but somehow in the distant past. With its large monolithic walls, and long solid stretches of paths, tit has been uncovered from the Atacama as opposed to crash landing. It becomes successful in that respect, that it is somewhat familiar in a sense of formal language or dragon-shaped silhouette, yet completely different with large gaps of glass or digitally constructed angles. The program is simple but the access is not, as the full museum is built on a ramp sloping into the main exhibition spaces and through the main corridors. The ramping helps moved people above a small portal on the exterior so that pedestrians may get a glimpse of water as they move past. The boldness of the project is what defines it as an interesting structure. Its identity relies on the condition that the starkness of the project directly confronts the boldness of the surroundings. With the mountains of the Atacama Desert on one side, and the ocean on the other, it is essential for the project to become that link between. With the program essentially a large gallery space, there was a need to create smaller more intimate study spaces, and large lecture halls for events and schools. The main circulation becomes key in the way we traverse this building. The sand and the sky enter through the tail of the building. Its large park-like tail marks the entry sequence as it ramps up towards the entry. This slope pauses for a short distance as you pass the threshold of the glass entry, and past the ticket counter. Then the ramp continues where it left of, and you continue to ascend into the mass. Vertical circulation from below happens at both ends where the loading and parking would be. This problem was the most difficult to solve because of the need to separate back and front of house from each other. The overall circulation becomes a simple diagram of gradual, linear climb and vertical axis that anchor each side. The main entries for cars are along the lower road where you can directly drive into the building on the lowest level. The exterior has its own path that is seen as a public access point for the beach and museum so that the link between mountain and sea, becomes a literal pathway also accented by a large sloped opening in the middle of the structure.