The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Tadao Ando

Photo David Woo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Massive planar walls of architectural concrete boldly express the Modern's basic structure while protecting the collection within.

Forty-foot-high transparent walls of glass framed in metal surround the concrete envelope, providing magnificent public circulation areas from which to view the surrounding building, the large reflecting pond, outdoor sculpture, and the landscaped grounds.

The building is located in Fort Worth's celebrated Cultural District, directly opposite the Kimbell Art Museum, designed by Louis I. Kahn, and near the Amon Carter Museum, designed by Philip Johnson.

By day, the new Modern's setting, on eleven naturally landscaped acres, including areas for outdoor sculpture and a large reflecting pond at the building's edge, will provide a restful complement to the Modern's architectural strength. By night, with the concrete walls bathed in an even glow of light, the transparent glass and steel galleries appear as large lanterns floating on and reflected in the pond.

Photo David Woo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Photo David Woo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

The desire to use diffused and reflected natural light within the gallery spaces was a major influence on the building's design. Immense cantilevered cast concrete roofs shade the building's exterior and accommodate the introduction of natural light into the gallery spaces by supporting sophisticated systems of continuous linear skylights and clerestory windows.

Supporting the concrete roof slabs are five forty-foot-tall concrete Y-shaped columns.

Photo David Woo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Photo David Woo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Photo David Woo courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

I try to relate the fixed form and compositional method to the kind of life that will be lived in the given space and to local regional society. My mainstay in selecting the solutions to these problems is my independent architectural theory ordered on the basis of a geometry of simple forms, my own ideas of life, and my emotions as a Japanese.

/Tadao Ando

Sketch courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Drawing courtesy Modern Art Museum
Site Plan

Drawing courtesy Modern Art Museum

Drawing courtesy Modern Art Museum

Drawing courtesy Modern Art Museum

Drawing courtesy Modern Art Museum

Drawing courtesy Modern Art Museum

The Modern Art Museum maintains one of the foremost collections of post-war art in the central United States, consisting of more than 2,400 significant works of modern and contemporary international art.