Museum of Arts & Design Selects Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture To Redesign 2 Columbus Circle
Museum of Arts & Design Selects Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works ArchitectureTo Redesign 2 Columbus Circle New York, NY, November 4, 2002 - Jerome A. Chazen, Chairman of the Capital Campaign of the Museum of Arts & Design (formerly the American Craft Museum), today announced that
Allied Works Architecture, led by Brad Cloepfil, has been selected to design the Museum's new, 54,000-square-foot home at 2 Columbus Circle. Allied Works Architecture was chosen from a group of four finalists in the competition for the project after museum leadership reviewed the work of each candidate relevant to the redevelopment of Columbus Circle. The finalists also included Zaha Hadid, Toshiko Mori Architect with James Carpenter Design Associates, and Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects.
Allied Works Architecture has completed a number of important projects on both coasts and brings experience in the design of cultural and educational institutions that is particularly relevant to the Museum of Arts & Design. The firm received critical acclaim for its design of the new Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, MO, slated to open in the fall of 2003, and the Wieden + Kennedy Agency headquarters in Portland, OR, which also houses the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Cloepfil's design team was most recently selected for the expansion of the Seattle Art Museum. The redevelopment of 2 Columbus Circle will be Mr. Cloepfil's first institutional commission in New York City.
"Cloepfil is a truly inspired architect who brings creativity, passion, a thorough understanding of the history and mission of this institution, and sensitivity to the particularities of the building site to the project," comments Holly Hotchner, Director of the Museum. "He sparked our imagination, convincing us that he can both support and challenge us to seize this tremendous opportunity to contribute an engaging building to one of the most significant urban spaces in New York City. He will also help us transform 2 Columbus Circle into a state-of-the-art museum that serves the public through a dynamic mix of galleries, artist studios, and civic gathering spaces."
"We are a modern and contemporary museum dedicated to materials and creative processes, which are the foundation of all the arts," says Mr. Chazen. "Known for his innovative design approach and use of a wide range of materials and fabrication methods, Cloepfil's work illustrates the continuity between art, craft, and design and resonates with the interdisciplinary and inclusive nature of our collections and programming."
"This project is also an important opportunity to reinforce our leadership role as an advocate for emerging artists, and to support new architectural talent and forms of expression," Mr. Chazen continues. "We felt strongly that Mr. Cloepfil is the right architect for this particular institution at this point in our development."
"This project is a key element in the revitalization of Columbus Circle, one of Manhattan's most vital crossroads and an important gateway linking Midtown, the Upper West Side, and Central Park," states Laurie Beckelman, Director of the New Building Program at the Museum and former Commissioner and Chair of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. "As a graduate of Columbia University's School of Architecture, Brad Cloepfil has lived and studied on the Upper West Side for several years and understands this neighborhood. Like the Museum, he is committed to both preserving and enlivening this part of the city, and to transforming Columbus Circle into a dynamic and distinguished cultural and social destination."
Allied Works Architecture will now work closely with the Museum to develop a design for 2 Columbus Circle that expresses the institution's identity and projects its mission, meets the complex functional needs of a museum, and is sensitive to the history of the site and its urban and natural environment. The design is expected to be unveiled in early 2003. While budgets are being finalized, the Museum's cost for purchasing and renovating the building is estimated to exceed $30 million. The earliest construction could begin late 2003.
The Museum initially invited eleven architectural firms to participate in the competition. After reviewing their proposals, the advisory committee narrowed the choice to the four finalists mentioned above. The seven other architects who presented their design ideas to the committee were:
Will Bruder Architects, ltd. (Phoenix, AZ)
Kennedy Violich Architecture (Boston, MA)
Koning Eizenberg Architecture (Santa Monica, CA)
Lake/Flato Architects, Inc. (San Antonio, TX)
Peter Marino and Associates Architects (New York, NY)
Office dA (Boston, MA)
Wendy Evans Joseph Architecture (New York, NY)
The architect advisory committee included professionals in architecture and design education, real estate development, the museum community, city planning, and business. The members of the committee were:
Laurie Beckelman, Director of the New Building Program, Museum of Arts & Design, and former Commissioner and Chair, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
Aaron Betsky, Director, Netherlands Architecture Institute; former curator of Architecture, Design & Digital Projects, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
Andre Balasz, Hotelier, The Mercer, New York City
Dr. George Campbell Jr., President, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Jerome A. Chazen, Chief Executive Officer, Chazen Capital Partners; Board Chairman Emeritus and Chair of the Capital Campaign, Museum of Arts & Design
Douglas Durst, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Durst Organization
Holly Hotchner, Director, Museum of Arts & Design
Nanette Laitman, Board President, Museum of Arts & Design
Barbara Tober, Board Chair, Museum of Arts & Design
The architect advisory committee was chaired by Mr. Chazen and led by Ms. Beckelman.
ABOUT THE NEW HOME FOR THE MUSEUM
When the Museum of Arts & Design moves to Columbus Circle, its space will more than triple to 54,000 square feet in the new space from 17,000 square feet in its present location. For the first time since its founding in 1956, the Museum will be able to present and expand its permanent collection of over 1700 art objects, including ceramics, fiber, glass, metal, paper, wood, mixed media, and design -one of the most distinguished collections of its kind in the world.
"Allied Works Architecture will help us realize a beautiful yet practical building that will enable this institution to significantly enhance its service to the community," says Barbara Tober, Chair of the Board of the Museum. "The new space will allow us to build upon and extend our far-ranging schedule of exhibitions. We will also broaden our school, public, and professional outreach programs that explore art, craft, and design as overlapping and interwoven fields of creative activity."
The Museum's programs are currently confined to active galleries, which requires the periodic closing of these galleries to general visitors. The studios and classrooms in the new facility will provide adequate space for Master Classes, Artists in Residence, and Open Studio programs. Programming will also include a greater range of lectures, seminars, decorative arts and design history courses, and workshops. In addition, the Museum will use a renovated auditorium and theater to showcase different cultural events in collaboration with New York City's premier performing and visual arts organizations, demonstrating today's interactions among all art forms.
The new facility will also allow the Museum to establish the Center for the Study of Arts and Design. A state-of-the-art resource for learning, it will be the first international center for the study of primary source material, conceived as a link between electronic media and information technologies and three-dimensional hand made objects.
An important cultural and educational resource to schoolchildren, families, artists, scholars, and tourists, the Museum was recently selected by The New York Economic Development Corporation (EDC), on behalf of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, to redevelop 2 Columbus Circle and add new cultural vitality to the area.
"I am pleased that from an impressive list of very talented candidates, Allied Works Architecture has been selected for this important project," said Andrew M. Alper, President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the agency that selected the Museum of Art and Design, on behalf of the City, to redevelop 2 Columbus Circle. "The Museum will add a great deal to the cultural attractions and economic revitalization of the area, and Brad Cloepfil's body of work ensures an exciting and innovative design that will bring new life to this unique building and honor its cultural past."
Designed by Edward Durell Stone in 1964, 2 Columbus Circle originally housed the former Huntington Hartford Gallery of Contemporary Art. Fairleigh Dickinson University operated the New York Cultural Center in the building from 1969-1975. In 1976, Gulf & Western Industries purchased the building and gave it to the city to serve as a visitor center and headquarters for the Cultural Affairs Department. The agency moved out in 1998 and the building remained vacant since then.
ABOUT ALLIED WORKS ARCHITECTURE
Based in Portland, OR, Allied Works Architecture was founded by Brad Cloepfil in 1994. The firm has completed a number of important cultural and educational projects throughout the United States, as well numerous private residences.
Allied Works Architecture received critical acclaim for its design of the new Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, MO, slated to open in the fall of 2003 and located on a site adjacent to Tado Ando's new Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, and the Wieden + Kennedy Agency headquarters in Portland, OR, which houses the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Pre-design has commenced on the $40 million Booker T. Washington high school for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, TX, a project for which Allied Works was selected through an invited international competition. Last winter, Max Protetch asked Allied Works, among other influential architects, to develop proposals for a new World Trade Center on the existing New York site. The proposals were included in a show that began at the Max Protetch gallery and has traveled to Washington, Berlin, Frankfurt, the Netherlands, and was included in the American pavilion at the Venice Biennale last September. Cloepfil's team was most recently selected to design the expansion of the Seattle Art Museum, a building by Venturi Scott Brown & Associates located in downtown Seattle.
Other projects realized by Allied Works Architecture since its conception include 2281 NW Glisan Building, Portland, OR; Blue Lake Residence, and Caldera Children's Camp and Artist's Retreat Center, both in Jefferson County, OR. Since the completion of the Wieden + Kennedy project in January 2000, the buildings of Allied Works have received widespread recognition and been published nationally and internationally in a variety of design journals. Allied Works is included in the book "All American" focusing on the work of twenty young American firms. Princeton Architectural Press is planning to publish a monograph on the firm in 2003.
Allied Works Architecture first received widespread attention with the "Sitings" project at the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Washington. The "Sitings" project proposed that architecture be based on spatial experience and the physical qualities inherent in specific locations, rather than a universal expression of applied theory or stylized sculptural form.
Allied Works Architecture has received numerous regional American Institute of Architects awards and two Progressive Architecture awards from Architecture magazine. These awards were followed with speaking opportunities at the New York Architectural League "Emerging Architects" series, Washington University, Rice University, and many others. Cloepfil was a juror for the Progressive Architecture Awards in 2002. He received his Bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Oregon and earned his Master's degree in architecture from Columbia University. After his studies, he worked in New York, Los Angeles and Switzerland for ten years before founding his own firm.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS & DESIGN
For nearly half a century, the Museum of Arts & Design - formerly the American Craft Museum - has served as the country's premier institution dedicated to the collection and exhibition of contemporary objects created in craft media such as clay, glass, wood, metal, and fiber. The Museum celebrates materials and processes that are today embraced by practitioners in the fields of craft, art and design, as well as architecture, fashion, interior design, technology, performing arts, and art and design-driven industries. The institution's new name reflects the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the Museum's permanent collection and exhibition programming as it explores objects that are created at the crossroads of craft, art, and design.
Honoring the rich history of craft and craftsmanship, the Museum of Arts & Design also investigates new materials and technologies that are changing the parameters of craft today. In 2001, the Museum organized the exhibition Defining Craft I: Collecting for the New Millennium, the first in a series of traveling exhibitions that explore the changing definitions and meanings of craft in the 21st century. The exhibition examined the influence and potential of new technologies such as computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), already used by such innovators as metalworker Stanley Lechtzin and textile artist Hideo Yamakuchi. In addition to one-of-a-kind objects, the exhibition also included craft multiples - works made in a series production - such as furniture designed by architect Frank Gehry or dishes designed by Roy Lichtenstein. The Museum will continue to collect and present one-of-a-kind prototypes made for serial production in the future.
Most recently on view at the Museum was Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation, the first in a three-part series of exhibitions that place contemporary Native American work in a broad context with current art and culture. The exhibition featured the work of artists who have embarked on new avenues of creativity, challenging commonly held preconceptions about craft, art, and design today and illustrating how art changes, develops, and evolves in response to contemporary social concerns and issues.
Other exhibitions organized in the past by the Museum to explore new developments in the field and illustrate the synergy between contemporary craft, art, and design, include Judy Chicago: Resolutions: A Stitch in Time; Tommy Simpson: Garden of the Heart; Sandy Skoglund: Breathing Glass; Peter Chang: A Visionary; and Objects for Use: Handmade by Design.