Undeterred after quitting a (failed?) project to build a 1,000 square foot tower in Winthrop Square, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano has returned to Boston. The scale of this project is certainly smaller than his last, but by no means is it less grand.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has released the final plans for a new wing, designed by Renzo Piano. The aim of the new wing is to “relocate programs and functions that have unduly crowded the historic building, putting pressure on the landmark structure and its magnificent collections and diminishing the visitor experience.” The wing will feature a transparent glass first floor, with four floors of green-patinated copper above it.
Housed within this new wing will be a new visitors area; art classrooms; the museum music program; a special exhibition gallery; and a 300-person in-the-round performance hall. The new wing will also offer outdoor cafe seating as well.
The use of glass, natural light, and transparency in the new entrance and first floor will afford visitors a sense of a museum-at-work as they enter the building. The design has created, for the first time, opportunities to walk through the Museum’s greenhouses, to interact with Artists-in-Residence living on site, and to observe educational classes and workshops from the lobby. The openness of the space has been conceived to encourage lounging, gathering with others, meetings, and conversation. Surrounding the first floor and visible from most areas, newly landscaped gardens are meant to encourage inquiry and exploration. All of this activity will center on preparation and anticipation for entering and experiencing the historic buildings, galleries, courtyard, and architecture.
Preserving and respecting the original museum building — designed by Gardner herself with assistance from architect Willard Sears and constructed in 1902 — was the highest priority for all involved. “We are not trying to compete with the beauty of the palace, but we have to provide some magic,” say Renzo Piano. “The new building may actually be the tool, the instrument, to save the Palace without changing it too much. That this is a fragile creation that cannot survive with its current level of use is one of the conversations we’re having every day. We are talking about an intimate museum that wants to remain intimate.”
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I like Piano's approach which is hardly the starchitect thing you'd expect — his design process involves many conversations. I find myself occasionally trying to wrap up conversations (Can't we get on with it?) only to my regret –
I like Piano's approach which is hardly the starchitect thing you'd expect — his design process involves many conversations. I find myself occasionally trying to wrap up conversations (Can't we get on with it?) only to my regret –
I like Piano's approach which is hardly the starchitect thing you'd expect — his design process involves many conversations. I find myself occasionally trying to wrap up conversations (Can't we get on with it?) only to my regret –
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