SO-IL's new museum for UC Davis: "a building to boost your faith in the future of American architecture"

2016-12-08T13:28:00-05:00

The museum is not a singular or path-breaking work of architecture; its design goals have more to do with manipulating light and shadow and with physical substance [...] Yet taken as a whole the museum offers a range of encouraging signs about the priorities of architecture’s up-and-coming generation. These include a genuine interest in shifting definitions of public space in a digital age and — most important of all — a preference for measured and layered effects over operatic ones.

UC Davis' new Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of art opened in November, and will function as a teaching museum with spaces for studios, galleries, and classrooms, including a courtyard for performances and installations.

According to Hawthorne, SO-IL's design (done in collaboration Karl Backus of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, an SF-based firm known for its multiple Apple stores), "flows primarily from [SO-IL leaders] Idenburg, 42, and Liu, 37, whose work tends to be porous and substantial at the same time, with cubic forms often cloaked or veiled by snug, semi-transparent skins." Hawthorne also refers back to SO-IL's YAP-winning "Pole Dance", as a tone-setter for the firm's aesthetic.

Check out Iwan Baan's photos of the museum below.

Get the backsotry on SO-IL and the Shrem museum here:

Archinect - News

SO-IL's new museum for UC Davis: "a building to boost your faith in the future of American architecture"