Peachy the Magazine October/November 2013 | Page 36
The Millennial Shift in Museum Design
Kimbell Art Museum, view from the southwest with reflecting pool. Louis I. Kahn,
architect. Photo by Robert LaPrelle. Copyright 2013 Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.
Renzo Piano was also commissioned
to design the addition to the iconic
Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.
The original Kimbell, completed in
1972, was designed by Louis Kahn
and is widely considered to be that
architect’s finest built work. With it’s
16 massive arches creating inventive
manipulation of natural light and its
intentional use of landscape architecture to draw in visitors, the Kimbell
was immediately hailed as a “mecca
of modern architecture.” Robert Campbell, the Boston Globe’s architectural
critic and winner of the Pulitzer Prize
for Criticism, has called it “the greatest
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American building of the second half
of the twentieth century.”
With an increased permanent collection and the desire to launch special
exhibitions, the trustees of the Kimbell
approved an expansion plan that
mandated a separate structure across
the lawn from Kahn’s masterpiece, so
that the original museum would be
able to stand on its own with no direct
addition. Slated to open next month,
Piano’s building will provide an elegant space for the exhibition of works
from the Kimbell’s permanent collection. The relationship of this gorgeous