Semi-finalist architects announced for Still Museum

Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 26, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More Art & Architecture

Officials at the Clyfford Still Museum today announced five architects, three of them from the United States, as semi-finalists in the competition to design the future Denver home of work and archives of the noted painter.

They are: Allied Works Architecture of Portland, David Chipperfield of London, Diller Scofidio + Renfro of New York City, Ohlhausen DuBois Architects of New York City, and SANAA of Tokyo.

"Any one of these firms could deliver a building of international significance," said museum director Dean Sobel. In terms of design parallels among the five firms, "there is something of a range," he said. But all responded well "to the challenge of creating a building that will emphasize the collection."

Last month, the museum sent copies of its request for proposals, or RFQ, to 23 firms, and 15 responded. The approximately 30,000-square-foot museum facility, projected to open in 2009, will accommodate galleries, educational spaces, collection storage, a conservation laboratory, library/archive space, and public areas. The target cost, according to figures in the RFQ, will be about $10.5 million, not counting endowment and program plans.

The museum says it asked firms to provide information demonstrating their understanding of museum needs and an ability to create a building that presents the optimum viewing experience for Still's art. The selection committee also requested that architects demonstrate their ability to deliver a building that is architecturally significant on an international scale.

The next step in the process is for the museum's architectural selection commmittee to interview the five firms Sept. 12 and 13, and then pare to three. The three are to give a public presentation Nov. 6.

In thumbnail bios of the firms, the museum noted that:

Allied Works Architecture and its principal Brad Cloepfil are based in Portland, Ore. Cloepfil has designed the Contemporary Art Museum, Saint Louis; extensions to the Seattle Art Museum and University of Michigan Museum of Art; as well as the design of a new facade for Edward Durrell Stone's Two Columbus Circle in New York as it shifts to the new facility for the Museum of Arts & Design.

London-based David Chipperfield Architects designed the Des Moines Public Library and Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, as well as an expansion of the St. Louis Art Museum. He also has been the lead master planner for the Museum Island in Berlin. Other Chipperfield projects include the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, the Anthony Gormley Studio in London, and the Museum of Modern Literature, Marbach, Germany.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro of New York have provided the design for the new facility for the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, opening in September of this year. They are also working with New York's Lincoln Center for the Arts on key renovations and additions to various facilities, including Alice Tully Hall and The Julliard School. Diller + Scofidio were the first architects to receive the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, known as the "genius" award.

Ohlhausen DuBois Architects has worked extensively in New York City, the base of the practice formed by Rolf Ohlhausen and Mark DuBois. Among their designs are the Gatehouse performing arts space at Aaron Davis Hall; the Cooper Union Residence Hall; Danese Gallery; and the renovation of the John L. Tishman Auditorium at New School University, all in New York.

SANAA is the Tokyo-based collaborative office of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. They have designed the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, and the so-called N-Museum and O-Museum, all in Japan. They are also designing a satellite museum for the Musée du Louvre in Lens, France. Their first U.S. projects are a new facility for the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and the Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art, both currently under construction.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News