Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art | Kyu Sung Woo Architects

Located in the outlying suburbs of Kansas City, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum that provides an important center for the interchange between art, culture and education. The design aim of this project was to create a space that would facilitate the mission of the museum. As well as a home for an outstanding collection of art, it is the integration of art with the host institution and the daily life of the students, faculty and visitors. The museum is connected to a technology center by a two story atrium, allowing for public passage through the campus, and its art laden spaces. In addition to the core program, the museum, conceived as part of a larger complex, provides amenities for the entire campus. Galleries are provided for both the permanent collections and for temporary and changing exhibitions. The exhibition spaces are connected by dramatic monumental stairways bathed in natural light, which highlight the ascension to serene upper level galleries. The gallery spaces are clearly identified as a stone volume, cantilevered from the core of the museum, the beginning of the art journey, a large frameless glazed lobby wall. The museum program combines educational program, café, gift shop and information desk in the main lobby hall to form the structure for the museum’s social interaction. Each of these programmatic elements is contained in a discreet yet integrated building component. The form of the museum is organized in contrast with the existing context, marking its presence in the campus and the adjoining landscape. The museum space is linked to the exterior with expansive glazing at the ground floor lobby and strategically placed windows at the upper level, which connect to the distant landscape and provide dramatic views. [IT] Il museo di arte contemporanea, ubicato nell’area di Overland Park (Kansas City, USA) è collocata all’interno del campus universitario del Johnson County Community College, ed ospita i pezzi d’arte collezionati dall’istituzione a partire dal 1983. Unico museo di arte contemporanea nell’intero stato, il volume custodisce opere di Dana Schutz, Kehinde Wiley, Uta Barth, Kerry James Marshall e Do-Ho Suh. Questo college possiede un numero eccezionale di sculture di oggetti d’arte, i ragazzi hanno la possibilità di vivere quotidianamente a contatto con essi. Per questa ragione, in fase ideativa la struttura è stata concepita alla struttura non come "deposito d’arte" ma come inizio di un programma di installazioni artistiche all’interno del campus. La struttura, minimalista e contemporanea, in pietra calcarea e vetro, segnala il nuovo ingresso al campus e collega la scuola alla comunità. L’entrata del museo è posta frontalmente alla principale via cittadina. La superficie a sbalzo che sormonta l’accesso principale della galleria è illuminata da un’installazione dell’artista Leo Villareal. Il suo stupefacente LED display richiama “l’effetto lanterna” della facciata in vetro e contribuisce alla connessione tra paesaggio e struttura. Il fronte trasparente del museo corre lungo un lato dell’atrio, consentendo a chi è fuori dalla struttura la vista degli ambienti interni. I muri di sostegno definiscono il perimetro del giardino esterno e contribuiscono a rendere chiaro il percorso pedonale. Il trattamento esterno della facciata utilizza la pietra locale. All’interno del museo, spazi dove allestire mostre temporanee o permanenti, ed aree dedicate alle attività sociali e formative. La luce del giorno è convogliata su tutto il perimetro della struttura attraverso dei lucernai, che regalano al volume leggerezza e luminosità naturale. The museum, home to a significant collection of contemporary artists including: Dana Schutz, Kehinde Wiley, Uta Barth, Kerry James Marshall and Do-Ho Suh, has brought an exciting new presence to the campus of Johnson County Community College and serves as the starting point of a campus-wide art installation program. This community college has an exceptional collection of outdoor sculpture and other contemporary art located throughout its campus that creates a daily experience of art for its students. This inspired the direction for the building as we began to think of the museum not as a repository for art, but as the start of a longer journey of art on campus. Kyu Sung Woo’s contemporary, minimalist building makes a strong statement. This limestone clad and glass enclosed modern structure signals a new entrance to the campus and connects the school to the community. The museum entrance faces outward towards the main streets and a 1.5 acre front lawn leading to the campus, an impressive site for future acquisitions. A dramatic 22-foot cantilever of the main gallery space above the entrance is enhanced by an exterior installation by artist Leo Villareal. His stunning LED display extends the lantern-like effect of the glass façade and supports the connection to the landscape established by the building. The glass-enclosed lobby runs along one side of the museum front, providing a broad view of its interior from afar and giving a constant sense of activity within. Retaining walls, extending into the landscape, further define the exterior garden, enforce the connection of building to land, and help form the visitor’s path. The exterior treatment reflects local materials and context; the selection of limestone for the cladding was in part inspired when excavation revealed this to be the naturally occurring subsurface rock on the site. The interior provides flexible exhibition space for permanent and temporary shows, as well as educational and social spaces that further connect the museum to campus activity. In the Museum, art and architecture are experienced together as a part of daily life. Daylight is drawn into the building along its perimeter with clerestory skylights that bring light down to wash the walls, creating an association with the outside, a sense of openness and a connection to the passing of time as the quality of light shifts. A double-height atrium wrapped with perforated metal to filter and soften light joins the museum to an adjacent technology center and integrates the museum into campus life. The museum establishes a new identity for this 234 acre suburban Kansas City campus. Located within the traditional Midwestern mile-square grid, Johnson County Community College is home to a renowned and notable collection of contemporary art that students encounter throughout their day-to-day lives, from walking to class to taking meals at the dining halls. Rather than compete with the large campus, Kyu Sung Woo found the opportunity for this new building to become a catalyst for a new experience of the site: the start of an art-walk and the entryway to a journey of art on campus. The building’s programming includes: - 11,000 square feet of exhibition space - 5,400 square feet of academic spaces - 200 seat auditorium - 2,400 square foot caf - 3,000 square foot atrium connecting the museum to an adjacent technology center - 3,700 square feet of art storage The architect of record on the project is Gould Evans Associates.