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Still Museum architect inspired by 'gift of light'

Although small, structure won't be overshadowed

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 3, 2008 at 12:26 p.m.
Updated March 4, 2008 at 1:33 a.m.

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Clyfford Still oil painting.

Photo by Clyfford Still Estate

Clyfford Still oil painting.

Clyfford Still.

Photo by Clyfford Still Museum

Clyfford Still.

Clyfford Still oil painting.

Photo by Clyfford Still Estate

Clyfford Still oil painting.

Clyfford Still.

Photo by Clyfford Still Museum

Clyfford Still.

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Brad Cloepfil on Monday became the latest architect to unveil a design for a new Denver art museum that draws on the region's strong and abundant light.

For Daniel Libeskind and the Denver Art Museum's Frederick C. Hamilton addition, light helped drive the choice of material for the building's titanium skin.

For David Adjaye, light helped him position skylights in the roof of Museum of Contemporary Art/ Denver and line the black glass walls with a material that creates a milky glow.

The Clyfford Still Museum design, presented Monday at the Denver Art Museum, shows second-floor galleries filled with natural light, a grove of trees to filter light differently as the seasons change, and concrete walls sparked by bits of obsidian or quartz that reflect the sun.

Cloepfil's two-story Modernist structure may be small, but it's standing up to one of the most challenging sites in Denver. The museum will be on West 13th Avenue near Bannock Street, to the east of the distinctive Hamilton Building.

Skylights and carefully placed windows will allow natural light into many of the galleries. Offices, education and storage spaces, and a conservation lab will be on the first floor.

"The city has so much sky," said Cloepfil. "Natural light is the greatest gift to architecture here."

The parklike front yard, owned by the city, was part of the site earmarked for the Denver Art Museum expansion. But, said Lewis Sharp, director of the Denver Art Museum, "There's no conflict here." The art museum, in fact, sold the Still Museum its site.

The links continue: A walkway by the grove will form a passageway between the museums.

The trees and tactile, light-refracting exterior may be the first things visitors encounter. But for the architect, the work by Still has driven the design.

"The most important mission of the museum, the most important quest for the architecture is to create rooms for Clyfford Still's art," Cloepfil said.

Still, a groundbreaking abstract expressionist, died in 1980 with most of his work in storage. He wanted it shown in a facility owned by an American city, not by a museum.

Still Museum Director Dean Sobel said he is ecstatic with Cloepfil's plans. "Brad has figured out the frisson between art and architecture," he said.

The compact Still Museum contrasts with its more monumental surroundings, Clopefil said.

"That's a grand collective vision, and this is all about one thing, absolutely one thing, one experience."

chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2677

Clyfford Still Museum

* Cost: $33 million capital campaign for land, design and construction; $17 million raised

* Size: 31,500 square feet

* Groundbreaking: early 2009

* Projected opening: 2010