A talk given to the New England Museum Association
Generally speaking, all architects
begin the process of creating a building by reviewing the material presented to
them by the owner. They carefully breakdown the programmatic requirements,
study existing conditions drawings, meet with the client and visit the
site.
Exactly how they “design” – that is develop a plan and create a physical
object that has visual coherence and impact – can take one of two paths. They can “interpret” the mission of the
institution in their own vocabulary. The results can be brilliant or disappointing,
depending on how much in sync the architect’s personal vision is with the
institutional mission, programs, visitors and collections. We have all seen
examples of both outcomes. The Disney
Concert Hall in Los Angeles, by Frank Gehry is an exiting example of a
convergence of architect’s style and institutional mission. The Experience
Music Project in Seattle, also by Frank Gehry, is an example of an unfortunate
miss-match of architectural style and institutional mission and image.
The alternative approach is for the
architect to give “expression” to the institution’s mission. This is very
different from “interpreting” the mission as it
requires a less dogmatic notion
about developing a personal style or vision. In addition it requires a facility for choosing the best forms and materials for the particular
project and client. A successful “expression” of an organization can be just as
dramatic and evocative as an “interpretation,” but without the tension that often
exists during the design
process between an “architect-interpreter” and a museum as the architect defends his vision and the institution fights for
theirs. The Cathedral of Light in Oakland California by SOM (Skidmore Owens and
Merrill), is a very successful expression of a site-specific, sacred mission
and program.

What Information Does
the Architect Need to Successfully Employ the Expressive Approach? And how Is That Information Used?
The architect should carefully
read the museum’s documents and also
strive to understand the museum’s essential qualities by committing them to
writing. Essential qualities are those intangibles that cannot be summed up by
a list of spaces, mechanical requirements and adjacencies.
As part of this process of total
immersion, the architect should also write planning and design principles
intended to preserve and extend the qualities that make the institution
special. The goal is for the architect
to fully embrace the ethos of the museum and to understand how that ethos might
be projected into the future.

I also explore the institution’s history
and traditions to gain critical insights into what makes a particular
institution special. I also want to understand the business model and/or
funding plan for a new building or renovation. Often, how a building is being
paid for will, or should, influence the design and therefore how quickly
funding can be secured.
Lastly, I want to understand how
the museum envisions the project being designed will strengthen the institution
so we can design a building that facilitates institutional success.
The project team – museum staff
and architect – should review and modify the statement of essentials and the
planning and design principles in a face to face meeting, agreeing on a final
version. These documents then become the standards with which the project team
can evaluate the appropriateness of future design options and decisions. They
keep the architect and the client
honest, and on point.
The design process is
complicated; and there often is a variety of conflicting requirements to be
accommodated. As a result, it is rarely the case that there is only one reasonable
solution. Options reflect different readings of the data, as it were, and they
facilitate a constructive dialogue between client and architect. Options
highlight the fact that the design process is one of trade-offs and by
exploring the trade-offs inherent in each option the architect and client can
better understand which strategy is the best expression of institutional
mission, accommodates the program and effectively controls the cost. During the
options phase, the Statement of Essentials and the Design Principles agreed
upon previously provide important criteria to guide the client and architect to
the best solution.
Can an “Expressive” Design Strategy Actually Work?
That’s a very short description
of how an architect should work with an institution if his or her goal is to
create a building that is expressive of institutional mission, vision, and programs.
Is the theory a sound one? Does it work in practice? Are options truly helpful? Do buildings really communicate mission? Can
deeply understanding an institution really produce a better building?
The Value of Options

One option emphasized the gateway
aspect of the program. It was broken into two masses to reduce the building’s apparent
size and used the connecting bridge as a ceremonial entrance to the field. The
building projected a playful, informal image. The second option was a single
building which appeared to be more massive and provided access to the field
through a central lobby inside the building.
The fact that the City chose the
second option told us a great deal about what they wanted this project to say
about the City and about its aspirations for the football team. These insights guided us in subsequent design
decisions.
Do Buildings Truly Express Mission and Vision? Citi Field and Yankee Stadium


Yankee Stadium, by virtue of its
larger capacity and its more regularized seating arrangement (it is much more
bowl-like) places fans further from the field. A limited number of
materials and colors are in evidence; and a various motifs from the original
Yankee Stadium were transferred to exterior and interior of the new stadium. The
result is a self-consciously traditional and monumental ball park. The building
almost shouts: ”You will be impressed.”
The Power of Essentials
How might a statement of
essentials and planning and design principles be applied to an actual museum
project? And if they were, would the outcome be different?

Now that the die has been cast
and the Barnes will move, the problem has become an architectural one. For an architect seeking to create a true
expression of the Barnes, the first question to ask is: What are the essential qualities of the
Barnes’ that define it as an institution.
Had the architects asked
themselves and the museum staff that question, had they interviewed visitors, and
had they investigated the museum and the founders’ history, they would have
come up with the following list of essentials qualities: Personal,
Informal, Accessible, Provocative and Immediate.
In October 2009 the New York
Times’ architecture critic, Nicolai Ouroussoff reviewed the new design by Tod
Williams and Billie Tsien, which he described as “four times the size of the
old Barnes.” He then went on to argue that visiting the new Barnes will never
match up with the old Barnes experience and that by appealing to a larger
audience (including tourists, for
heaven’s sake) the Barnes is not being true to its nature, its essence.
While I agree with him that the
new Barnes design may not be a fitting container for the Barnes’ experience, I
do not agree with his statement that the experience can only be had in the
current building. I believe that the architects and museum staff have not done
their “homework.” They have not asked themselves, in sufficient detail, “What
are the essential qualities of the Barnes?” and then set out to give full
expression to those qualities, above all others, in the new building. As a
result, the building is much larger, more monumental, and less accessible than
the current building, diluting the sense of total immersion in the art.
To create a building that
emphasized an intimate art experience would have required a totally different
approach to the disposition of functions, spaces and massing. It could easily
have been done if that had been the primary goal; instead we have a design that
is the realization of the architect’s vision about materials and dramatic
lighting effects.
The new design may turn out to be
very interesting architecture; but if the Times’ critic is to be believed, and
from what I have seen in the press and on the Barnes’ website I expect he is
correct in this view, the new building has not preserved the intimate scale of
the original or the deeply personal nature of the interaction with the art. We will have to wait to learn how this story
turns out as only visiting the completed building will tell us whether the
essential qualities of the original Barnes have been given full expression in
the new location.
A museum will live with its
building decisions for a long, long time. The worst thing that an organization
can do is to build the wrong building, a building that does not serve the
actual needs of the museum and becomes a financial drain, sapping institutional
spirit.
A building project that responds
to the needs of the audience, embraces the museum’s mission and is expressive
of the institution’s essence will strengthen and sustain the museum. These
goals can be achieved if the museum’s essential qualities are fully understood
and made paramount in the design process.