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 36 PEACHY 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