This story was originally published in The Denver Post on August 24, 2000.
More than 400 people came to a public forum last week to see the
preliminary concept of the new Denver Art Museum wing being
designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. An explosion of boxes and
rectangles, jutting out and suspended in different directions,
it’s sure to exact considerable comment in a city used to staid
and straight buildings.
But the Berlin-based architect, in an interview with The
Post, believes it is a desirable and appropriate image when you
look at its immediate neighbors – the slim and elegant Gio Ponti
building that is the museum’s home, which he calls “an amazing
building,” and the very large and monolithic Michael Graves’
Denver Public Library addition, whose south facade he described as
“forbidding.”
So is Libeskind designing a building more to spark comment
than to house art collections? It’s a question often asked of
museum architects today.
“That’s not a conflict,” he replied. “Great museums of
distinctive architecture are an attraction in themselves, but at
the same time they provide exciting spaces for the exhibition of
art. It’s not just a different form, but a new approach, moving
away from static boxes, to meet the new scale and modes of art
today. A good museum addresses new needs, for now and the future.”
Wednesday, Libeskind announced he had selected the Denver
architectural firm Davis Partnership to collaborate on the $62.5
million project’s site plan and design.
“As our city embarks on this great artistic and cultural
adventure, we look forward to offering input that will build on
the integrity of Daniel’s vision,” said Britt Probst, principal
and partner of the firm, said in a statement.
The design Libeskind offered last week, he said,
“investigates a vision, with some whimsy, … and will probably
remain through future design refinements. … You don’t abandon a
vision.”
Those wings jutting in various directions came about from the
very complex and detailed program given by the museum, he said.
They will house the lobby and a theater, with important space for
the education program – “an exemplary program known worldwide,”
Libeskind said.
The largest wing cantilevered into space will be the great
exhibition hall – “To show the diversity of a collection that is
equally well known.” Beneath it will be an open-air sculpture
gallery, which will also be a link to the urban environment
surrounding the complex at the corner of West 13th Avenue and
Acoma Street.
Libeskind’s 146,000-square-foot building will be connected to
the Bach wing of the existing building with a spiraling link,
leading to lobbies, hall, restaurant “and a spectacular shop – the
museum stressed that,” he said.
Exterior building materials will have a Colorado context,
perhaps “the ancient geologic material found here – granite – and
a modern material formulated here – titanium – to reflect the
richness of experience within the museum.”
Curators whose offices are now blocks away from the museum
will have space in the new building.
“It’s essential, for curators to be part of the life of the
museum, to meet the public,” Libeskind declared. He wants people
not just to come to the museum, but to linger in its vicinity.
Whenever he starts talking about Colorado, Libeskind begins
to rhapsodize, talking about “the wonderful light, the great
mystery of light that is so very different in Denver, with great
horizons of light” and the “wonderful, intelligent people – I’ve
never been exposed to so many challenging questions.”
Libeskind is no stranger to public criticism; his proposed
contemporary addition to the stately Victoria and Albert Museum in
London was the subject of satirizing by newspaper cartoonists.
“I enjoy that buildings are not just private exercises, but
open to public debate, and to bring some fun to the city, too.”
At last week’s public forum he told attendees that the museum
was not a project yet, but an encounter – an encounter with the
public, essential if the architecture is to have a poetic quality.
The museum plans for more public forums as work on the
building progresses.
