Seoripul Open Storage Museum in Seoul

 

Winning entry ©Herzog de Meuron

 

In visiting any museum, one might wonder what important works of art are out of view in storage, possibly not considered high profile enough to see the light of day? In Korea, an answer to this question is in the making.

It can come as

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Dallas Tabs Nieto Sobejano as Choice For Museum Redesign

Six Firms Competed to Rethink the Future of a Major Museum

 

Note: Our article of three weeks ago, announcing the designs of the six firms competing in this competition, apparently only reached about half of our subscribers due to a glitch in our provider’s software. Therefore, we felt the need to include most of that article here to serve as background for the naming of the winner, Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos of Madrid/Berlin.

 

 


Aerial view of winning design ©Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos (courtesy Malcolm Reading Consultants)

 

 

The history of the Dallas Museum of Art’s expansion has been punctuated by several moves, culminating in a new building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1984. The importance of this move to a new, somewhat desolate location in the city cannot be underestimated: it has led to the revitalization of what is now called the “Arts District,” with the relocation of various arts institutions to new facilities: the opera house (Foster and Partners), Dee and Charles Wyly Performing Arts Theater (REX/OMA), Nasher Sculpture Center (Renzo Piano), and I.M. Pei’s Meyerson Symphony Center being among the most significant.

 


Image ©Wikimapia

 

As has been the case with numerous art museums, demands for more space to enable the showing of an expanding inventory. together with recognition that art is not just for the elites, has led those institutions to rethink how a museum should function in modern day society. With new high-rise buildings surrounding the present DMA, the present building, with an Indiana limestone facade, had to some “become unwelcoming, off-putting, and defensive.” To address this issue, both for expansion and refurbishment of the existing DMA, the Trustees looked to a competition to bring the best ideas for the new project. This decision should be seen against the background of a local/regional context: Dallas’s nearby, smaller neighbor, Fort Worth, had been at the forefront of museum design on the national and international scene when it came to museum design. Louis Kahn’s Kimball Museum (1972) was a pilgrimage destination for young architects, and Tadeo Ando’s Museum of Modern Art there had been the result of a competition (1997).

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Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art

 

Six Firms Compete to Rethink the Future of a Major Museum

 

(The scheduled announcement of the competition winner is to occur in August. Until that time we will refrain from commenting on the merits of the individual entries. In viewing the presentation boards of the six shortlisted firms below, readers should not draw

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Four Plans to Unify Disparate Parts of the Portland Museum of Art’s Campus

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Butrint National Visitor Center, Albania

 

Courtesy Malcolm Reading Consultants, ©Kengo Kuma & Associates

 

A UNESCO World Heritage Site Again on the World Stage

 

How does one approach a challenge when creating a design worthy of a park with a history dating back to antiquity? This was what four design teams faced when shortlisted for the design

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A Korean Heritage Site Sets the Tone

 

Chungji National Heritage Museum Competition

 

 

 

For those unfamiliar with Korean Heritage and its symbols, the choice of the jury for a new complex to house artifacts, now located at various scattered sites, would seem to beg more information, especially when one views the designs of the non-selected finalists—all quite modern.

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From Anthropology to Architecture: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Competition

 

Image: ©KPMB Architects

 

Not to be outdone by other Canadian provincial capitals, Halifax has chosen to make its own ambitious museum statement on the city’s waterfront. New museums in Vancouver, BC, Calgary and Fredericton, New Brunswick, the latter two by KPMB Architects, are either in development or already under construction. Saskatoon’s Remai

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An Ultimate Destination for Naturalists

 

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Competition

 

Aerial view ©Snøhetta

 

Until now, the establishment of presidential libraries at the conclusion of their terms has followed the founding of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library after World War II. The first exception to this was the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, established in 1962.* Now a

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Uusi Kansallinen – National Finnish Museum Competition: Following a Time Honored Paradigm

 

Aerial view of site – Courtesy National Finnish Museum

 

When major cultural institutions in Finland plan a new building project, one can almost always assume that an open competition will be the vehicle by which the client settles on the building’s design. The only question is, will this be organized

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Science Island Design Competition Finalists

 

Finalist and Winning entry: ©SMAR Architecture Studio

 

Until the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1989, the occupied Baltic countries were known for their hi-tech contributions to the Soviet economy. As a carryover from that period, the Baltic nations still emphasize technology as a major factor in their economies. Thus, the establishment

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