Architecture studio Morphosis has balanced long galleries on massive beams and clad in patterned, precast concrete at the Crow Museum of Asian Art museum in Dallas, Texas.
The building is part of the first phase of the O'Donnell Athenaeum, an arts campus for the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas). It is a second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art.
Morphosis has completed an art museum at UT Dallas
Completed with local architect studio GFF, the building is spread over two levels, with most of the gallery space on the upper floor.
Several of these galleries are raised above the ground supported by large, V-shaped beams. The east side of the building wass slightly separated from the main building and forms a bar that cantilevers out on the north and south sides ? called the Bar Galleries. It has an elevated volume supported by concrete pillars
Around the perimeter, the lifted blocks form a covered walkway around the building to provide shade in the hot Dallas summer.
Morphosis principal Arne Emerson told Dezeen that the lifted elements were designed to create an "opening" and "welcoming" impression ? like an embrace, an idea that will be furthered as the other buildings of the Athenaeum are constructed.
"By lifting the building up and putting all the galleries on the second floor and creating these covered exterior spaces that essentially become the circulation of the building itself."
A massive glass wall and ceiling lets light int...