Here are excerpts from some of the reviews of the new Frederic C. Hamilton Building:
“The new addition to the Denver Art Museum captures all of the contradictions within Mr. Libeskind’s oeuvre. Its bold, often mesmerizing forms reaffirm the originality of his talent, yet its tortured geometries make it a daunting place to install or view art – hardly a minor drawback. And for all its emotional power, the building seems eerily out of date, and its flaws readily apparent.”
Nicolai Ouroussof,
The New York Times
…
“It is a startling, sometimes over-the-top piece of architectural sculpture, a surprisingly sensitive shaper of urban spaces and a disappointingly spotty art museum in which basic functional problems have not been adequately solved. … Perhaps the addition represents a cautionary tale for the era of globe-trotting star architects, a warning against irrational exuberance, in which the knock-your-eyes-out container overwhelms the art it contains.”
Blair Kamin,
Chicago Tribune
“If showstopping design is what it takes to pull in the public these days, fine. But frankly, I’m more impressed by what’s going on inside the Denver Art Museum than by its new trophy building, a very good but not great piece of architecture.”
Martin Filler,
House & Garden magazine
…
“There’s no denying the eccentric excitement of a building that’s encapsulated by ‘Hot DAM,’ the Denver Art Museum’s new marketing slogan. But that changes the moment you enter the galleries. … DAM admirably took an architectural gamble, which institutions rarely do. But risks are – well, risky. Here the result is an array of the least congenial galleries for art that I’ve seen in 20 years.”
Christopher Knight,
Los Angeles Times
…
“In contrast with its ponderous, earthbound neighbors, his museum looks ready for a springy takeoff. But it is Libeskind’s sure-
handed site planning – a quality that New Yorkers never fully appreciated – that forces the self-involved beauty contestants to behave in a collegial and civic way. That Libeskind’s museum achieves such a degree of urban grace, without forcing itself into a background role, is an achievement.”
Inga Saffron,
Philadelphia Inquirer
…
“Libeskind’s museum addition … is the most captivating building to appear in the U.S. in a while, the first to compare in complexity, daring and brave-new-world beauty to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles that Frank Gehry set loose three years ago. If anyone doubts that Libeskind’s ideas are a route to a powerful new model of space and form, … this is a building to change minds.”
Richard Lacayo,
Time magazine
…
“Everywhere shards and fragments of the thing lurch out unexpectedly. It is an exhilarating experience. Like an inverted, extruded and exploded piece of origami, Libeskind’s building threatens to swallow itself. Which is part of the problem. For while Libeskind has designed a striking building, … it almost tries too hard for its stated purpose: the exhibition of art.”
Dan Glaister,
The Guardian, London
…
“Before Libeskind, no one knew how to pull these pieces of the city’s cultural nexus into a coherent ensemble. He succeeds with the crowd-pleasing theatricality of a contemporary Bernini. … In Denver, it’s tragically clear just what New York has given up in trashing just about every life-enhancing element of Libeskind’s master plan at ground zero.”
James S. Russell,
Bloomberg.com
…
“Whether you like this sort of mannered architecture is a matter of taste. Frank Gehry’s swirlings and churnings have always seemed lighthearted and whimsical, buoyed by a take-it-or-leave-it quality. Libeskind’s forms strike me as aggressive. Standing in front of his building is like being buttonholed by someone shouting insistently in your face, ‘And this! And this! And this!”‘
Witold Rybczynski,
Slate magazine
…
“In a city where a 40-foot-
high blue concrete bear stares into the glass walls of the convention center nearby, a 120-foot-high tumble of extreme origami doesn’t look out of place. Had the interior of the museum matched the show outside, Libeskind’s triumph would be complete and Denver would be home to one of the nation’s finest museum buildings. But it doesn’t. … Once you’re done being startled, the inside has a mundane feel.”
John King,
San Francisco Chronicle
