A world-class encyclopedic art museum, complex re-opens in New Haven

2012-12-15T18:22:00-05:00

Balance. For decades we’ve had an art culture that tries to wow us with too muchness — blockbusters, biennials, bank-breaking museum buildings no one needs — and that ends up delivering way too little. Could it be that the day of just enough is upon us, and that Yale’s just right museum is a bellwether?

Holland Cotter reviews the final results of the $135 million renovation and expansion of Yale’s museum complex. The entire refurbished complex — a block-and-a-half-long stretch that is itself a museum of changing architectural styles — officially re-opened two weeks ago. Consisting of the 1953 Kahn building and two adjacent buildings on Chapel Street — the so-called Old Yale Art Gallery, a 1928 neo-Florentine Gothic building and Street Hall, a Ruskinian Gothic structure from 1866 — the renovations and additions have combined to give the respected institution an "aura of a destination'. The paper also recently published a profile of Jock Reynolds, director of the Yale University Art Gallery, by Charles McGrath. Therein McGrath explored the successful tenure of the sculptor turned director who has "caused hundreds of millions of dollars...to pour into Yale’s coffers" or to put it another way "He makes money rain on the place".

Decades Later, a Vision Survives

2012-09-13T12:43:00-04:00

The park...was conceived four decades ago. The visionary architect who designed it died in 1974. The site...remained a rubble heap while the project was left for dead. But in a city proud of its own impatience, perseverance sometimes pays off.

An early look at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park

2012-05-18T20:17:00-04:00

Archinect Editorial Contributor Aaron Plewke recently visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, which opens officially Fall 2012. Designed by Louis I. Kahn the park is on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, New York City. Check out more photo's via his Flickr stream.

Archinect - News

A world-class encyclopedic art museum, complex re-opens in New Haven

Decades Later, a Vision Survives

An early look at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park