D-Chip loves the midwest. The St. Louis Art museum unveiled drawings for their 9,000 m^2 $125m expansion...
The Board of Commissioners of the Saint Louis Art Museum today announced a $125 million capital campaign to finance the expansion of the Art Museum's historic facility in Forest Park. The goal makes this the largest capital campaign for a cultural institution in St. Louis history.
The announcement of the campaign by the Museum's 10-member Board of Commissioners complemented the unveiling of a model and renderings of the design for the expansion by internationally acclaimed British architect David Chipperfield. Chipperfield was recognized with England's highest honor for architecture, the Royal Institute of British Architects' James Stirling Prize, in October.
The expansion is designed to advance the Museum's position as one of the nation's finest comprehensive art museums. Funds raised through the campaign will also enhance the Museum's endowment to ensure the continued financial stability of the institution, its extensive public and educational programs and the care of its comprehensive collection. The Museum anticipates a groundbreaking in late 2008 and project completion in 2011.
"Our campaign goal reflects our vision for a building of the highest possible quality to support our world class art collection," said J. Patrick Mulcahy, president of the Museum's Board of Commissioners. "This expansion puts an exclamation point on the value St. Louis places on its cultural assets and guarantees the Museum's continued status as one of only a very few great art museums across the country that remain free to all."
The Museum announced that five St. Louis philanthropists to date have stepped forward with gifts of $10 million for the expansion. Additional generous donations from members of the Museum's boards and other civic leaders bring the total raised to date to $100 million.
"Just as St. Louis leaders stepped forward more than a century ago to create the Saint Louis Art Museum, a new generation of leaders is stepping forward today to enhance this cultural treasure for many generations of St. Louisans to come," said John D. Weil, chair of the Campaign and Museum commissioner. "We now plan to reach out to our thousands of patrons and to the entire St. Louis community to help support the expansion of this great community asset," Weil said. "The strength of support we have received thus far gives us a campaign start unimaginable in most communities."
The $100 million in commitments the Museum has received during the campaign's initial phase includes 100 percent participation of the Museum's Board of Commissioners. The five $10 million lead gifts were made by community leaders Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Alvin J. and Ruth Siteman, Jack C. Taylor, John D. and Anabeth Weil and one anonymous donor. In addition, the Museum has received 37 gifts of more than $500,000 so far for the expansion campaign, including 21 donations of $1 million or more.
"Many of our donors have told us their gift to this initiative is the largest they have ever made," said Museum Director Brent R. Benjamin. "Seventy percent of the funds given and pledged to date have been contributed by members of the Museum's boards. With such strong leadership in the initial fund raising phase, we look forward to an extremely successful campaign."
Chipperfield's design calls for an addition to the east and south of the Cass Gilbert-designed building with a dark, polished concrete façade incorporating Missouri river aggregate. A number of floor-to-ceiling windows invite and provide views from both inside and outside. The project will create a new, accessible entrance directly off Fine Arts Drive with dedicated entrances to the south of the building for school children and adult groups. The plan also includes a 300-space below-grade parking garage.
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8 Comments
Yeah St. Louis.....
And i like Chip's understated minimalistic classicalism.
yes, he's kinda on a roll with that.
anyone know if he's hiring?
a prof of mine involved in that project told me that the powers that be of that particular endeavor had an opportunity to hire zumthor. they passed, saying he was too "radical."
What....
To radical? Perhaps, too experiential....
i think that going with chipperfield might have been a smarter move. zumthor's not known for sticking to budgets or getting things done on time.
I'm sorry to say that as much as I like Chipperfield he is no Zumthor. This is evident on the disappointing bldgs he has built so far in the US. Here in Atlanta we were extremely disappointed w/ the most recent version of the One Museum Place. Thankfully it has been put on hold. I always thought that Chipperfield would be someone I would give the benefit of a doubt, but I don't think I would do that anymore. What I like about his work is that is modern and sometimes minimal it always seemed to brake down the scale at the pedestrian level very nicely. I saw that in his stores and residences and even in some of his commercial bldgs and museums. Here in the US he doesn’t seem to be making an effort to break down the scale and address the pedestrian in the same poetic way he had done in the past. Maybe that is a byproduct of doing work in the US were pedestrian issues are not emphasized.
Here is a link to the developers website showing the most recent rendering. There is a previous rendering on Chipperfield website that is not as offensive as the the hack job that they did the one in this site.
prehttp://www.ompatlanta.com/rendering.html
Here is the image that won him the competition.
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=593
wow. the developer really VE'd the sould out of that project.
what started out as something really elegant, became a white box that at least wasn't completetly offensive. that latest rendering is just awful.
where in the US are pedestrian issues emphasized?
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