Grand Rapids Art Museum (courtesy wHY Architects)
On Friday, the Speed Museum announced the selection of wHY Architecture for the upcoming expansion of the museum. The Los Angeles, California based architects led by Kulapat Yantrasast, Yo Hakomori, and Richard Stoner, beat out seven other internationally renowned architects from around the world. The Museum originally planned to narrow the list to three last December, but found wHY Architecture to be the perfect match for the project. Plans call for the expansion project to start construction next year in 2010 with an anticipated grand opening in 2012. We spoke with Kulapat Yantrasast over the weekend to discern the firm’s design approach and philosophy and how it might impact the Speed Museum project.
The Speed Museum expansion presents a unique set of challenges that will require a creative solution. Situated on the edge of the University of Louisville’s Belknap Campus, the site is extremely constricted. The original 1927 Beaux-Arts museum designed by notable local architect Arthur Loomis has undergone a series of hodge-podge modern renovations over the years that have served to confuse the Museum’s functionality. The grand front doors have been sealed and the main entrance is situated in the rear of the building behind a low, nondescript glass door. The interior flow and circulation of the museum has also been compromised and overcrowding has forced interior spaces to mix use in inappropriate ways. Further, the Museum must negotiate the transition between the University campus setting, the city and street, and an Olmsted park.
Kulapat explained that museums across the world are stuck with modern additions that don’t enhance the original, historic structures. The temptation is to take the easy road and add on without relating back, effectively forming an architectural tumor. He hopes the new expansion will integrate the Museum into a single, cohesive whole. wHY Architects will not haphazardly tear down older additions, but adopts a self described “architectural acupuncture” that surgically inserts itself into its context. To accomplish this, the design team will study the critical areas of the museum including circulation and public space to create a unique solution for a 21st century museum.
“Museums around the world have become victim of their own growth, getting bigger, fatter and congestedly unhealthy,” said Yantrasast. “A museum’s growth should not mean merely adding new wings or new limbs to the old museum body. Museum expansion or development should be like acupuncture architecture; precise intervention or transformation strategically focused towards critical areas to regain the sense of clarity to the overall organization.”
- Speed Art Museum (Official Site)
- wHY Architects (Official Site)
- Grand Rapids Art Museum (Official Site)
- Speed Museum Shortlists Eight Architects For Addition (Broken Sidewalk)
- wHY Yes! California firm to renovate & expand KY’s largest art museum (Architect’s Paper)
- Speed Museum chooses wHY Architecture (WFPL)
- Architects want to help Speed visitors find their way around (C-J)
- Architects chosen for Speed Museum update (C-J)
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