Tour: Glenstone Museum
Glenstone, a private museum of contemporary art, is located on 230 acres of land in Potomac, Maryland. The museum was developed and financed by local billionaire Mitchell Rales, and opened to the public in 2006 under the curation of Emily Wei Rales. Glenstone is named for the nearby Glen Road and the areas stone quarries. The Gallery, a 30,000 square foot Modernist structure designed by Charles Gwathmey, housed the collection at the museum’s 2006 opening. In 2010, Thomas Phifer was awarded a commission to design the five fold expansion of the museum after a two stage competition. Phifer, who had previously worked for Gwathmey and fellow New York Five Architect Richard Meier, is known for numerous museums and civic buildings.
Arrival Hall
Upon entering the grounds of the museum property, visitors drive to the Parking Grove. An adjacent Arrival Hall offers information and a book store. Alaskan yellow cedar, a soft wood chosen for its complementary tone to the concrete of the pavilions, clads the exterior of the Arrival Hall. Inside, the spaces are clad in a maple wood.
Detail of the maple wall, flooring, and bench.
Bookstore.
Pavilions
The pavilions are situated in a meadow of undulating topography that denies the visitor a clear view of all twelve structures as you follow the winding path to their entrance. Phifer’s site strategy is inspired in part by the dry garden at Ryoan-ji that features fifteen stones in a rectangular gravel field seen from a platform. Visitor’s are never able to see all fifteen stones at the same time, embodying a meditation strategy that favors intuition over reason.
Phifer’s concept for the pavilions was to treat them as a series of rooms, with unique proportions tied to specific artwork, surrounding a water court. Pavilions are sited on the cardinal points to emphasize the changing natural light throughout the day.
Entry.
The cast-in-place concrete used at the pavilion interiors is an architectural concrete made with a mixture of pure white and common grey cement and locally quarried aggregate stones. Finnish plywood panels were used on the handmade formwork to produce a smooth finish for the exterior surface of the concrete. The resulting concrete has slight variations of color and visible lift lines from the removal of the formwork.
Room 1.
Twenty-six thousand precast concrete blocks, measuring six feet by one foot, clad the exterior and interior walls of the pavilions. Blocks were cast off site and vary based on weather conditions during casting and curing. Darker blocks were poured in winter due to temperature and the slower evaporation of water. Surface finish was even affected by removing the formwork in rain or sunny weather. Time will further the contrast of the blocks as they are further exposed to the elements.
Stair handrail detail.
Phifer has situated the twelve pavilions around an 18,000 square foot Water Court which can be viewed through large panels of glass. These German made panels are set in stainless steel mullions and reach heights up to thirty feet.
A platform made of Ipe wood and a teak bench allow visitors to sit and reflect outside in the Water Court. Plantings include water lilies, irises, rushes, cattails, and hardy canna.
Terrazzo made of granite is employed for the floors of the pavilions and complements the surrounding concrete and glass. Although typically polished to a high gloss, the Glenstone’s terrazzo has a matte finish and has a lighter than normal color due to the small aggregate used in the mix.
Room 7 features a monumental bench made of hickory and the largest glass panel in the pavilions, offering visitor’s a stunning view of the surrounding meadow. Maple clads the interior surfaces of the room.
Room 7.
Phifer has specified a plaster for the gallery walls that is made of Italian marble dust and a lime paste from the rocks of the Ticino River in Switzerland.
The clerestories in the pavilions are made of glass that has been acid-etched to produce a uniform and semitransparent surface. This process involves washing clear glass in a light acid bath, creating a smoother surface than sandblasting, to filter natural light entering a space.
Every detail is thoughtfully considered, even the accommodation of sprinkler heads and fire extinguishers.
Water fountains outside of the restrooms.
Located near the pavilions’ entrance, Michael Heizer’s Compression Line is surrounded by argillite, a sedimentary rock of hardened clay particles. This type of argillite comes from the southwest United States and resembles the rusted steel of the sculpture it surrounds. Another piece by Heizer, Collapse, is located in Room 5 and surrounded by the same argillite rock.
Compression Line by Michael Heizer.
Collapse by Michael Heizer.
The Gallery
Glenstone’s first art gallery was designed by the late Charles Gwathmey and opened in 2006. The exterior is clad in zinc and gray granite.
The Gallery (2006).
Sylvester by Richard Serra (2001).
Landscape
The nearly 300 acre landscape of Glenstone is designed by landscape architect Peter Walker and Partners and includes paths, trails, streams, meadows, forests, and outdoor sculptures.
Split-Rocker by Jeff Koons, 2000.
Sculpture in the surrounding landscape includes Jeff Koons’s Split-Rocker, 2000, which is planted each year in the spring with New Guinea Impatiens.
Split-Rocker before its spring planting.
Clay Houses (Boulder-Room-Holes) by Andy Goldsworthy, 2007.
Architects: Thomas Phifer and Partners (The Pavilions), Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects (The Gallery); Landscape Architect: Peter Walker and Partners; Client: Glenstone Museum; Program: Museum; Location: Potomac, Maryland; Completion: 2006 (The Gallery), 2018 (The Pavilions).
Construction Update DC: Midtown Center
Southwest corner from L Street NW.
Construction has wrapped up at Midtown Center, an office complex in downtown Washington, D.C. Developed by Carr Properties, the 12-story, 862,000 RSF complex is built on the site of the former Washington Post headquarters.
Southeast corner from L Street NW.
SHoP Architects has designed the complex with a c-shaped footprint, with retail wrapping around a public plaza and office floors above. The east and west office blocks are connected by a network of pedestrian bridges at multiple floors. A 5,000 SF rooftop terrace and shared conference space caps the office building.
Close-up of the west façade of the west tower.
The office block is clad in a glass-and-copper façade designed with panels that gradually rotate outward to provide solar shading without compromising views. Over time, the copper elements of the curtain wall will gradually patina.
Criss crossing pedestrian bridges above the public plaza.
Detail of the pedestrian bridges.
Pedestrian bridges connecting the east and west tower.
Tour: Institute for Contemporary Arts at VCU
East facade from West Broad Street.
Steven Holl Architects' latest museum, the Institute for Contemporary Art's Markel Center, has opened on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth Universityin Richmond, Virginia.
Looking up at the performance space volume.
The centerpiece of the design is the 33 foot high forum located at the intersection of West Broad Street and North Belvidere Street. Off of this main forum volume, visitors can access the 240-seat auditorium, sculpture garden, and the four contemporary art galleries that fork into multiple volumes along West Broad Street.
Looking up at the forum and performance space volumes intersection.
Pre-weathered titanium zinc, the primary cladding material, was selected for its environmental friendliness as a 100% recyclable material and its flexibility in cladding the curved shapes of the museum.
Northeast corner from West Broad Street.
Other sustainable features of the design include the use of 7,500-square-feet of green roofs on three of the four galleries and the use of geothermal wells for the central heating/cooling system. The wells are drilled down to approximately 460 feet and use the earth as a heat source in the winter and a heat sink in the summer for the building's climate control system.
Sculpture Garden
North entry.
Northwest corner at the sculpture garden.
Entry door hardware detail.
Forum
South entry.
Ground Floor Gallery
Stair railing detail.
Sculpture Terrace Garden
Second Floor Galleries
Third Floor Gallery
Performance Space
Cafe
Basement
Architect: Steven Holl Architects with BCWH Architects; Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associate; Mechanical Engineers: Arup, OLDS; Landscape: Michael Boucher Landscape Architect; Client: Virginia Commonwealth University; Program: Museum; Location: Richmond, VA; Completion: Spring 2018.
Construction Update: 512 West 22nd Street
Southeast corner from 10th Avenue.
Construction scaffolding continues to come down at 512 W 22, a warehouse to office conversion adjacent to the High Line. COOKFOX Architects are leading the design, which replaces the previous 5-story warehouse with an 11-story office tower. The massing features rounded corners and several outdoor spaces created by building setbacks and carved out spaces. To tap into the character of the neighborhood, the exterior façade features industrial sash-inspired windows, and anthracite terracotta, zinc and granite panels. The project is pursuing LEED Gold and construction completion is expected in late 2018.
East facade from 10th Avenue.
Northeast corner from 10th Avenue.
Northeast corner from the High Line.
Southeast corner from the High Line.
Close-up of the southeast corner.
Architect: COOKFOX Architects; Developers: The Albanese Organization and Vornado Realty Trust; Program: Office; Location: Chelsea, New York, NY; Completion: 2018.
Grove at Grand Bay
Construction is wrapping up at Grove at Grand Bay, Terra Group's two tower residential development located on a three acre site in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami. Designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the two towers twist along their vertical axis, allowing for a dynamic range of views of Biscayne Bay and the nearby park. The facade is composed of a window wall system set back from the concrete slab at each floor to create generous terraces with up to 12 feet of depth. A total of 96 residences will be offered between both towers.
Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group with Nichols Broch and Associates; Developer: Terra Group; Landscape: Bjarke Ingels Group with Raymond Jungles; Program: Residential; Location: Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida; Completion: 2016.
