Placed at the heart of the historic Menil Collection in Houston, Johnston Marklee's long-anticipated Menil Drawing Institute opened to the public last Saturday. As the fifth art building to be constructed on the iconic 30-acre campus, the approximately 30,000 square-foot Menil Drawing Institute showcases the expansive drawing collection of Dominique and John Menil. Johnston Marklee collaborated with landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates on the $40 million project.

The Menil Drawing Institute is the first facility of its kind to be dedicated to the acquisition, study, exhibition, conservation, and storage of modern and contemporary drawings. Designed at an intimate scale, the MDI has a low-lying, elongated form that not only complements its park-like surroundings and nearby historic structures, but also signals potential future growth.

Open for less than a week, the MDI has received generally positive reactions so far. “[Johnston Marklee has] succeeded brilliantly, taking Piano’s long lines, the bungalows’ peaked roofs, Johnson’s palm court, and creating a building that is simultaneously secretive and spectacular,” Alexandra Lange recently wrote on Curbed.

The building comprises a series of volumes and courtyards that are unified under a white steel-plate roof. Visitors enter through the open-roof landscaped courtyard on the west side of the building. The 3,000 square-foot art galleries are located on the south side, while the administrative offices, study rooms, and conservation lab are on the north side. The building also features two identically sized courtyards called the “Living Room” and the “Scholars' Cloister”.

The Living Room functions as a circulation spine and a central gathering hub, while the Scholars' Cloister is an interior space adjacent to the curatorial offices. Johnston Marklee also collaborated with Jeff Jamieson of Wood & Plywood Furniture to design a custom collection of benches, tables, ottomans, and desk accessories inspired by the “elemental, structural forms” of the MDI.

Johnston Marklee thoughtfully designed the MDI to shield light-sensitive artwork, while allowing diffused sunlight to illuminate common areas. In addition to the Institute, the architects also designed the nearby Energy House, which serves as a new central source for heating and cooling on the Menil campus.

“This quietly innovative architecture of the Menil Drawing Institute allows us to make drawing, the most personal of all artistic practices, accessible as never before,” said Rebecca Rabinow, director of the Menil Collection, during the opening ceremony. “The Menil Drawing Institute will engage with our community, with the entire world of arts, in an exciting new way.”

Find more project photos in the gallery below.