John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla., has long held one of the world's great collections of baroque masters, including Peter Paul Rubens, Velazquez, van Dyck, and others. But for years many pieces could not be shown to their best advantage, and hundreds could not be displayed at all. They sat in storage in the museum's damp basement, or in warehouses. Now, the Ringling offers new galleries in which to fully exhibit the collection it houses.

The museum's new 30,000-square-foot Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing, designed by HOK's Yann Weymouth, brings a subtle, tailored sensitivity to the historic museum, respecting John Ringling’s original intentions while catapulting the museum into the 21st century. The walls are built of 12-inch filled-cell block with stucco covering to match the original museum building. Cast stone elements at the building’s plinth visually link old and new structures.

The Searing Wing completes the Ringling's master plan, which called for restoration of existing buildings and estate to 1920’s Italianate splendor, a new entry, administrative, curatorial spaces, and expansion of the galleries. The completed project doubles the building area of the center, enlarges the original park, adds two lakes, and eliminates internal vehicular traffic.

Key components of the revitalized Ringling estate also include a visitors pavilion, which provides a 33,000-square-foot grand entrance to the estate through the refurbished gatehouse and features the fully restored Asolo Theater. The theater's 72 panels were originally constructed within the castle of the exiled Queen of Cyprus in Asolo, Italy, then shipped to America in 1950, and recently resurrected from a condemned building through two years of painstaking restoration.

A 68,000-square-foot education/conversation building houses the museum’s 65,000-volume library, an art vault, a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory, classrooms, and administrative and curatorial offices. The Tibbals Learning Center, home of the world’s largest miniature circus, adds a new 30,600-squre-foot building to the existing circus museum. The master plan for the estate also includes a fully restored Ca d’Zan (John and Mable Ringling’s mansion), a living document of life in the Roaring 20’s.

Formal name of project: John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

Location: Sarasota, Florida

Gross square footage: 160,538 sq.f t.

Total construction cost: $43 Million

Owner: The Florida State University

Architect:
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc. (HOK),
One Tampa City Center, Suite 1800,
Tampa, Florida 33602
Ph: 813-229-0300 / F: 813-223-9116,
yann.weymouth@hok.com
www.hok.com

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