Arch2O.com

Arch2O.com - Architecture & Design Magazine
The Kimbell Art Museum?s original building was designed by Louis Kahn in 1972. The new building by RPBW was recently inaugurated and establishes a close, respectful and frank dialogue with this powerful yet delicate older building.The new Piano Pavilion accommodates the museum?s growing exhibition and education programmes, allowing the original Kahn building to revert to the display of the museum?s permanent collection.
Photography: Nic Lehoux
Photography: Nic Lehoux
The programmes and collection of the Kimbell Art Museum have grown dramatically in recent years, far beyond anything envisioned by the museum in the 1970s. Addressing the severe lack of space for the museum?s exhibition and education programmes, the new Piano Pavilion provides gallery space for temporary exhibitions, classrooms and studios for the museum?s education department, a large 298-seat auditorium, an expanded library and underground parking. The expansion roughly doubles the Museum?s gallery space. Furthermore, the siting of the new building and the access into it from the car park will correct the tendency of most visitors to enter the museum?s original building by what Kahn considered the back entrance, directing them naturally to the front entrance in the west facade. Gallery Facade Section
Subtly echoing Kahn?s building in height, scale, and general layout, the RPBW building has a more open, transparent character. Light, discreet (half the...