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P U S H
I N G T H
E E N V E L
O P E
T h i s n e w a r t m u s e u m i n S t L o u i s i s c o n c e i v e
d a s a f l e x i b l e
s h e l l f o r e x p e r i m e
n t t h a t r e a c h e s o u t t o i t s
s u r r o u n d i n g s
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Meet me in St Louis, Louis, meet me at the Fair’, sangJudy Garland,
and the city is celebratingthe centenary of that high point in its
fortunes, even as it struggles – like so many others in the Midwest –
to regenerate its battered core. Progress has been made since Eero
Saarinen’s Gateway Arch was built on the banks of the Mississippi in
1968, and the Grand Center Ar ts Distr ict at the edge of downtown
has recently acquired two small but potent gems: Tadao Ando’s
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the Contemporary Art Museum
by Allied W orks Architecture. They occupy neighbouringsites and
conduct a lively dialogue across a shared courtyard dominated by a
Richard Serra torqued steel sculpture.
What’s remarkable is how well these two radically different
buildings complement each other visually as well as in purpose. The
Pulitzer, which opened two years ago, is a signature work by Ando in
the finest in-situ concrete. It has the air of a spiritual retreat: refined,
serene, and inward-looking; a place for solitary contemplation of twentieth-century masterworks fr omthe Pulitzer collection, which is
open by appointment two days a week. In contrast, Allied Works
principal Brad Cloepfil designed the new museumas a flexible shell
for experimentation in the visual arts, and programmes that reach out
to the depressed neighbourhood and the general public. Concrete
walls are clad in tightly woven stainless-steel mesh, and expansive
windows open up views fromstreet to courtyard. Galleries for
changingexhibitions occupy a quarter of its 2500 sq m; the rest are
given over to a large performance space, an education centre and
café, plus upstairs offices and classrooms. The buildingcost only $6.5
million, substantially less than its neighbour.
Thanks to the generosity of Emily Pulitzer and other patrons, the
CAM has moved far beyond its modest beginnings in a downtown
storefront, and it selected Allied Works from a shortli st that included
Herzog& de Meuron, RemKoolhaas, and Peter Zumthor. It was a
prescient choice, for Cloepfil has since won acclaimfor prestigious
CONTEMPORARYART MUSEUM,
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI, USA
A RC H ITEC T
ALLIED WORKS
location plan
2The museum complex in St Louis’depressed cityscape. Allied Works’new building(left) joins Ando’smuseum on the right.3Concrete wallswrapped in stainless-steel mesh are beautifully smooth,impassive surfaces.4Expansive windowsopen up views.2
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1 entrance lobby
2 gallery spaces
3 education studio
4 perform ance space
5 cou rtyard
6 café
7 loading
8 line of And o building
9 adm inistrative offices
10 resource centre
11 classroom
crosssection
ground floor plan (scale approx 1:1250)
crosssection
first floor plan
5The internal courtyard.6Detail of mesh-wrapped walls.
CONTEMPORA
ST LOUIS, MIS
A RC H ITEC T
ALLIED WORK
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arts projects in New York, Dallas, and Seattle, all of which are
characterized by acool minimalismand sensitivity to aesthetic needs.
As he explains: ‘In makingspace for contemporary art, the architecture
must first serve the arti st; not by attemptingto render abackground
for the art, but by providingthe artist with aspecific spatial presence,an intentional vacancy that achieves meaningthrough the art itself.’ He
also spoke of creating‘a fusion of the city and the arts.’
Cloepfil has pushed the buildingout to a curved corner that
gives it a distinctive prow, and has restored the original street l ine –
in contrast to the Pulitzer, which is pulled back. The contents of the
buildingare revealed though window walls, so that its role as an art
centre is immediately apparent. Concrete walls are sandblasted to
dematerialize the surface and distinguish it fromA ndo’s small
modules. The mesh is set 100-150mmfrom the walls, unifyingthe
facade and shadingthe office and classroom windows. It ’s a concept
that the architect has developed and taken further in the
translucent membrane he proposes to wrap around the former
Huntington Hartford Gallery in New York, a marble-clad Venetian
pastiche by Edward Durrell Stone, to provide a new home for the
Museumof Contemporary Arts and Design.
Double glass doors open onto the lobby froma setback in the
north facade, and steps lead down fromthis introductory space to
the galleries. Cloepfil has played with space and light as though they
were liquids, containingand releasingthem, allowingvisitors to feel
they are swimmingthrough galleries that open up to each other and
to outdoor areas that are tightly enclosed by the two buildings. Thereare two levels of wall: 4mhigh sections at ground level, and a 6mhigh
band that wraps around the upper level in serpentine fashion, tying
the spaces together. The steel mesh is carried inside in places to add
another layer and a contrastingtexture to the white painted
sheetrock on the display walls. Ceilingplanes float at different levels,
admittinglight from clerestories and blockingdirect sun. The effect is
one of interlockingboxes cut away to leave only a few definingedges.
Paul Ha, the new director of St Louis CAM, made his reputation at
White Columns, New York’s most adventurous alternative art
space. ‘It changes one’s perception of art to see it in a different
setting,’ he observes, ‘and artists welcome the challenge of
respondingto the energy of place.’ For Cloepfil, the task was ‘to
make spaces that serve the arts and artists, while allowingfor a
subtle emotional response fromthe individual. It was imperative to
create a physical environment that visitors would feel comfortable
returningto again and again.’ MICHAEL WEBB
axonometric of buildingelements
7Lookingthrough the courtyard.8After the compression of theoutdoor areas, galleriesare tall, airy,luminousspaces.9, 10The buildingisconceived asaflexible shell for experimentation.
ArchitectAllied Works, Portland, USA
Photographs
HélèneBinet
CONTEMPORARYART MUSEUM,
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI, USA
A RCH ITEC T
ALLIED WORKS
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