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A new $51 million Tulsa Arts District proposal will turn a parking lot into a boutique destination

2022-05-27T15:28:00-04:00

Tulsa, Oklahoma’s ongoing transformation into the premier cultural capital of the southern Midwest region may about to get a useful new addition as local news outlets are reporting that Palm Spring-based architect Chris Pardo will design a $51 million mixed-use development located on a blacktop space in the city’s burgeoning Arts District.

“We really do specialize in urban-core redevelopment projects,” a spokesperson for developer Pivot Project recently told the Tulsa World newspaper. “We saw this opportunity for this site right in the middle of the Arts District. … We like to try to effect positive change on the buildings that we renovate, the blocks that we develop on, the neighborhoods we develop in. This site just fit right in our core values as a company.”

enders courtesy of Chris Pardo Design via Tulsaworld

Renders courtesy of Chris Pardo Design via Tulsaworld

Tulsa is in the process of redefining its historic downtown area with a host of major arts and cultural projects that in...

Gilcrease Museum begins demolition ahead of two-year expansion effort

2022-01-27T13:00:00-05:00

An expected temporary closure for the oldest art museum in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area has many vying for the not-too-distant debut of what promises to be an instant architectural icon.

The Gilcrease Museum began demolition of its existing building Tuesday in order to make room for a new 91,300-square-foot facility designed by SmithGroup. The museum closed to the public on July 5th and will reopen again sometime in late 2024.

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The Gilcrease is undergoing a major expansion project funded by a publicly-supported $65 million capital project called Vision Test. The 73-year-old institution also received an additional gift from a private donor that brought the total to $75 million for the ambitious multi-year effort.

Previously on Archinect: Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum unveils upcoming expansion plans that will connect visitors to the natural world

Tulsa as a city is in the process of addin...

Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum unveils upcoming expansion plans that will connect visitors to the natural world

2021-06-24T19:18:00-04:00

The Gilcrease Museum has unveiled designs for an expansion of the 72-year-old Tulsa institution as part of a redevelopment plan meant to give its 350 years of collected history an upgraded 21st-century relevance.

The plan will add improved exhibition space for the city-owned museum founded by collector Thomas Gilcrease, a member of the Muscogee tribe who amassed a fortune in Oklahoma's early oil boom.

Aerial view overlooking the new Gilcrease Museum toward downtown Tulsa. Courtesy of Gallagher & Associates and Gilcrease Museum

“We need a space that provides a visitor experience to match the strength of the collection” explained Gilcrease Executive Director Susan Neal.

The soon-to-be razed museum holds a number of Indigenous artifacts and boasts the world’s largest collection of art of the American West in addition to a collection of over 100,000 manuscripts, photographs, and rare books housed by the Helmerich Center for American Research.

SmithGroup is responsible for the design th...