The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art, one of the country’s largest
and most important art institutions, was built in 1916 by local architects
Hubbell & Benes as a grand Greek revival pavilion, situated at the head of
a pastoral park and lagoon landscape designed by the Olmsted Brothers. However,
subsequent additions—including a noteworthy education wing by modern architect
Marcel Breuer—obscured the rational plan of the original structure with a
disjointed, confusing warren of spaces. In 2001, Rafael Viñoly Architects won
the commission to resolve these conditions with an expansion and renovation,
creating a coherent organization of galleries that accommodates projected
growth and unifies disparate architectural vocabularies into a singular composition.The plan restores focus to the original 1916 building,
conceiving of it as a “jewel” set within a continuous ring of expansion space
that includes the renovated Breuer building. The other additions are demolished
to make way for a vast, indoor, sunlit piazza, topped by a gently curving
canopy of glass and steel, around which the entire museum is newly organized.
With indoor landscaping and daylight drawing visitors into the center of the
plan, the column-free piazza is a large and welcoming public plaza, a gathering
spot for museum-goers as well as an event space for large functions.New gallery wings to the east and west enclose the piazza
and taper toward the 1916 building, where they culminate in fully transparent,
glazed galleries and pedestrian bridges that permit unobstructed views of the
sides of the historic pavilion. The new gallery wings’ exterior stone cladding
alternates bands of granite with bands of marble that modulate the two very
different aesthetics of the 1916 and Breuer buildings. In this manner, the
distinctions between “modern” and “historic” are preserved, yet integrated into
a cohesive whole.The two-phase construction process accommodates the
museum’s fundraising schedule and allows continued operation (on a reduced
basis) while the project is underway. Phase 1, completed in 2007, consisted of
the renovation of the 1916 and Breuer buildings and the construction of the new
east wing. Phase 2, now underway,
begins with razing the remaining museum additions to make way for the west wing
and central piazza.
and most important art institutions, was built in 1916 by local architects
Hubbell & Benes as a grand Greek revival pavilion, situated at the head of
a pastoral park and lagoon landscape designed by the Olmsted Brothers. However,
subsequent additions—including a noteworthy education wing by modern architect
Marcel Breuer—obscured the rational plan of the original structure with a
disjointed, confusing warren of spaces. In 2001, Rafael Viñoly Architects won
the commission to resolve these conditions with an expansion and renovation,
creating a coherent organization of galleries that accommodates projected
growth and unifies disparate architectural vocabularies into a singular composition.The plan restores focus to the original 1916 building,
conceiving of it as a “jewel” set within a continuous ring of expansion space
that includes the renovated Breuer building. The other additions are demolished
to make way for a vast, indoor, sunlit piazza, topped by a gently curving
canopy of glass and steel, around which the entire museum is newly organized.
With indoor landscaping and daylight drawing visitors into the center of the
plan, the column-free piazza is a large and welcoming public plaza, a gathering
spot for museum-goers as well as an event space for large functions.New gallery wings to the east and west enclose the piazza
and taper toward the 1916 building, where they culminate in fully transparent,
glazed galleries and pedestrian bridges that permit unobstructed views of the
sides of the historic pavilion. The new gallery wings’ exterior stone cladding
alternates bands of granite with bands of marble that modulate the two very
different aesthetics of the 1916 and Breuer buildings. In this manner, the
distinctions between “modern” and “historic” are preserved, yet integrated into
a cohesive whole.The two-phase construction process accommodates the
museum’s fundraising schedule and allows continued operation (on a reduced
basis) while the project is underway. Phase 1, completed in 2007, consisted of
the renovation of the 1916 and Breuer buildings and the construction of the new
east wing. Phase 2, now underway,
begins with razing the remaining museum additions to make way for the west wing
and central piazza.