Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
St. Louis
Allied Works Architecture

In Allied Works? Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, architecture is understated by design, heightening the viewer?s experience

© Hélène Binet

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By James S. Russell, AIA

A great many Modern-art spaces are contained in highly expressive Modern architecture. So why, Brad Cloepfil, AIA, asked himself, “was the romantic notion that contemporary art can only be inspired by—and presented in—found space so resilient?” His own dissatisfaction, which parallels that of many artists, is that too much museum architecture “intends to be the subject” of the experience, “and keeps reiterating its own ideas at every level and at every moment.” For the young, scrappy Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, he chose what could be a more daring course by designing less a building than a “vessel”—one that “prepares the ground” for the experience of art.

Cloepfil, the principal of Allied Works, of Portland, Oregon, does not know precisely what he is preparing the visitor for. The St. Louis Contemporary, like a number of such institutions, doesn’t have a collection and doesn’t intend to obtain one. Similarly, its director, Paul Ha, has a good idea of the kinds of artists and trends he wants to showcase, but much of what he most wants to exhibit “has not even been made yet.”

Such a strategy does not make the architect’s job easy. “We didn’t want a precious-object place,” explained Betsy Millard, Ha’s predecessor, who was director during design and much of construction of the new building. “We talked a lot about warehouse space with Sheetrock. We know that works. But will the art of today look good in another kind of space?”

Actually, the 27,000-square-foot project’s $6.5 million construction budget did not permit much that was precious at all. But it’s a big step up from the leftover spaces that the Contemporary has occupied since its founding in 1981. As long as seven years ago, the institution began planning for a permanent home. It had forged ties with the Pulitzer Foundation, whose leader, Emily Pulitzer, had enlisted Tadao Ando to erect a combination of think-tank place and exhibition space for the foundation in the Grand Center cultural district. Pulitzer donated land next to the Ando building for the Contemporary. The combined institutions help to forge a cultural critical mass in a city with too little art, she says. “The combination is one plus one equals five.”

Explaining his design approach, Cloepfil says, “I wanted a space that is energized on its own terms but also would be inspirational for artists. In a noncollecting context, you hope that artists are intensely motivated to generate work for the space.” He divided the floor area with 12-foot-high concrete panels running east to west (some clad in drywall, others left unfinished), and ran similar panels overhead in spans as long as 70 feet north to south. (A small, upper-level mezzanine, with offices and an education space, can be appropriated for additional displays.)

The “upper order” of panels, clad in glistening stainless-steel metal mesh, creates a powerful architectural definition of volume but leaves the “lower order” woven underneath unencumbered for the mounting of art. Cloepfil changed ceiling heights between the panels, slotting the gaps with clerestories. The floor areas also shift gently through ramps and shallow stairs, thereby defining three large exhibition areas primarily by differences in height (13, 20, and 26 feet) and quality of light. With floor space freed of columns, the arrangement permits curators to further subdivide at will.

More concrete panels unfurl along the curving sidewalk front and project beyond the building’s volume—in a long, daring cantilever—to frame a dramatic rectangle of sky over the entrance. The sandblasted surface and more sunlight-refracting mesh present a tough exterior, but one which subtly contrasts with the crisp severity of Ando’s building next door. This Minimalist alternation of materials, pattern, and texture represents a reconciliation of opposite impulses. He needed a largely closed exterior to provide ample art-hanging space. (“I fought those windows!” Millard admits.) And he adds, “the building should establish a boundary as it merges with the city.”

Throughout, Cloepfil strove for a delicate balance. “There’s as much ‘architecture’ as possible—in its power to evoke—and as little of the visible hand of the designer as possible,” he explained by telephone from Portland. This results in a certain ambiguity. The exterior is so understated that it barely identifies itself as a museum. Local architects criticize it as too fortified-looking for an emptied-out city where too few institutions are inviting. The visitor can’t miss the assertive architectural structuring of the interior, but the space itself feels amorphous. This underdefined nature, however, may aid the institution in its mission. “He gave us a clean box to work in,” says director Ha. “It’s grand and impressive but not daunting,” a boon for the emerging artists he wants to show. He expects artists to attach works to every surface, even drill through the floor. (The windows have become fair game for artist Mary Evans in the initial exhibition, A Fiction of Authenticity: Contemporary Africa Abroad). Cloepfil cringes a bit when he hears this, but he did intend that the art should come forward, even if it dangles sloppily from that tidy Swiss exterior. The design may act as the perfect foil to the hanging exploded pianos, lurid performance pieces, and mud-splattered walls that are the bread and butter of contemporary art exhibitions these days.

Ha’s task to build attendance from a modest 10,000 annually won’t be easy. No lively art and gallery scene exists to nurture (and be nurtured by) the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. “We have to overcome the stigma that we are a museum about contemporary art,” he says. In a program called New Art in the Neighborhood, he uses his classroom—which, with Cloepfil’s glass wall, becomes a kind of invitation to passersby—to help young artists develop portfolios suitable for college admissions. Cloepfil created a stepped “performance space” that is implied rather than permanently enclosed by walls, which means Ha can introduce readings or dance within spaces occupied by art. Even the natural light, which many curators seek to shut out, makes a difference. “It’s nice to look up and out and remind yourself that you are part of a community,” Ha observes. “High school kids stare in as they go past. I like that.” In a city where much of the population doesn’t feel invited by museums, he adds, “the openness bridges the gap.”

See the January 2004 issue of Architectural Record for full article.

Location:
St. Louis

Gross square footage:
27,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$6.5 Million

Architect:
Allied Works Architecture
910 NW Hoyt
Portland, Oregon 97209
phone: 503.227.1737
fax: 503.227.6509
www.alliedworks.com