"Upon entering the museum, visitors will find themselves in a public square, vibrant with light and people, with visual connections to the art in the galleries.  The double helix of slowly spiralling ramps will generate a gradual transition from the first-floor public square to the galleries."
Ben van Berkel

Image Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
UNStudio/Van Berkel & Bos and Fox & Fowle Architects

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art recently unveiled the schematic design for a major expansion and renovation led by architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio, Amsterdam with Sylvia Smith, of Fox & Fowle Architects, as executive architect.  The museum's enveloping urban landscape will be transformed by artist/architect  Maya Lin.

Founded in 1842, the Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in the U.S., and its collection and history are distinguished.  Despite an impressive legacy of commissioning architecture that is an expression of its time, the Wadsworth Atheneum's current campus is confusing to navigate.

Image Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
UNStudio/Van Berkel & Bos and Fox & Fowle Architects

The innovative design by UNStudio respects the museum's historic structures while introducing a new light-filled public gathering space that will make the museum more accessible, and will provide new and improved gallery space to showcase its renowned collections.  

The museum's five contiguous buildings were constructed over 127 years, from 1842 to 1969.  The architects' plan calls for removing the 1969 Goodwin building, which occupies a seventy-foot span between the 1842 Wadsworth building and 1934 Avery building on the museum's north side, and Gengras Court, an open-air courtyard at the center of the museum campus.

Image Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
UNStudio/Van Berkel & Bos and Fox & Fowle Architects

A new structure will be introduced that will extend into the Wadsworth and Colt building interiors (which were gutted in the 1965-69 renovation), and cohere to the historic interiors of the Beaux Art style Morgan Memorial (1910-1915) and the International Style Avery Memorial (1934).

Image Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
UNStudio/Van Berkel & Bos and Fox & Fowle Architects

The museum's main entrance will move from Main Street to the new building on Atheneum Square North and will be transparent at street level to entice the passersby.  The new entrance will span the breadth of the old Goodwin faade and lead into a welcoming public concourse that gently descends to the museum cafe and an outdoor terrace overlooking Burr Mall to the south.

Image Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
UNStudio/Van Berkel & Bos and Fox & Fowle Architects

Once inside, the visitor's orientation to the museum is dramatically enhanced by sight lines that visually link the public concourse and the galleries.  The visitor is given a glimpse of the art that lies ahead.  Rising from the concourse are two gracefully stepped ramp ways that connect the buildings and direct the visitor to each successive level throughout the museum.

Image Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
UNStudio/Van Berkel & Bos and Fox & Fowle Architects

This architecturally integrated circulation system is supported by a cone-shaped cable system that doubles as a light well, filtering light from above through the tiers of the new structure and onto the concourse below.
Both ramp ways and elevators arrive at the upper levels of the new buildings, which features an 8,400 square foot gallery for temporary loan exhibitions, and a 6,300 square foot gallery for contemporary art.  These galleries are column-free and will use flexible wall systems to accommodate changing installations.

Image Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
UNStudio/Van Berkel & Bos and Fox & Fowle Architects

The new building will be clad in a perforated metal designed to flow seamlessly from the north faade to an asymmetrical roof.  Translucent in part, the new roof is faceted to reflect the skylights and rooftops of the existing historic buildings.  At night, lit from within, portions of the building will appear to glow.  The faade and flooring of the new building will be light-hued, in harmony with the rough-hewn granite exterior of the Wadsworth building and smooth limestone of the Avery Memorial.

Ground breaking is scheduled for  the first quarter of 2004.  

UNStudio
Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos established their architectural practice in Amsterdam in 1988.  Ten years later they formed a subsidiary, UNStudio, which is a network of specialists in architecture, urban development, and infrastructure.  UNStudio creates bold and elegant "digital architecture" for the 21st century by imaginatively blending computer technology with new investigations into structural engineering and construction materials.
Ben van Berkel studied at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and the Architectural Association in London before receiving his A.A. Honors Diploma in 1987.  Caroline Bos studied art history at Birkbeck College of the University of London, receiving her B.A. Honors Diploma in 1991.  UNStudio is best known for the asymmetrical, swan-like Erasmus Bridge, a symbol of Rotterdam just as the Brooklyn Bridge is of New York City; the Mšbius House, a residence out-side Utrecht that plays with notions of inside and outside, day and night, and work and rest; and the Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen.  UNStudio designed the winning entry for the new Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart, marking their first major commission in Germany.  The Wadsworth Atheneum is UNStudio's first major U.S. commission.  

Maya Lin
As a senior studying at Yale's school of architecture, 20-year-old Lin created the design for what has proved  to be the single most successful piece of public sculpture in the country: the 1982 Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.  

Fox & Fowle Architects was formed by Robert F. Fox, Jr. and Bruce S. Fowle in 1978.  Last year the firm was hired to collaborate with Renzo Piano on the new Manhattan headquarters of The New York Times; they are also the architects of the Conde Nast and Reuters Buildings in Times Square.  Fox & Fowle Architects is well known for its expertise in the environmental arena and for its award-winning, program-sensitive renovations.
Sylvia Smith, who directs Fox & Fowle Architects' award-winning Educational and Cultural Studio, is the managing principal for the Wadsworth Atheneum project.  She received a B.A. in studio art and art history from Dickinson College where she was named a Metzger Fellow. She received her M.Arch. from the University of Virginia School of Architecture in 1979, where she now serves on the Dean's advisory board.  Her current projects include the Calhoun School in Manhattan, a new business school for Syracuse University, and a cultural center for the New School University.  Her portfolio includes award-winning projects for the American Bible Society, the American Craft Museum, and the Black Rock Forest Consortium.

UNStudio
Fox & Fowle Architects

September 23, 2002

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