Re: Gardner Museum to undertake $60 million expansion
Ron I drove by it one afternoon but couldn't stop as there was some construction equipment in the street
I agree -- totally inappropriate for the context
If Piano had to do the Green Thing -- it should have been reversed with the glass ski challet
then you would have left to right:
Green Thing -- Glass Ski Challet (entrance lobby) -- glass coridor (for isolation) -- the Palace
The way it is curently configured -- I wouldn't fault Izzy if she wasn't trying to claw her way back to the surface to take the building down personally!
Note -- above view is taken from an archboston posting that I think is the closest to what Campbell is discussing
http://www.buildingproject.gardnermuseum.org/vision/building-cultural-landmark-bostonBuilding a Cultural Landmark for Boston
This is what Campbell has to say on the Gardner's website
I like Campbell and frequently agree with his senitments -- but I think he sold out:
Robert Campbell, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning architecture critic, examines how Piano’s design for the Gardner works within the Fenway Cultural District.
Note -- he is descibing a rendering on the website -- Elevation from Evans Way Park. © RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP, 2010. Note: The brick massing at left is an apartment building adjacent to the Museum and is not part of the project.
"....When an institution is housed in an older building that is itself a distinguished work of architecture, there’s a special burden on the owner to maintain that level of excellence.
The Gardner has stepped up to the plate on this issue by commissioning a building from Renzo Piano, acknowledged as one of the leading world architects of our time, a winner of the Pritzker Prize and the designer of such outstanding art museums as the De Menil in Houston and the Beyeler Foundation in Basel.
Piano’s design has been developed in collaboration with the Museum staff and trustees. It’s unobtrusive in scale, so as not to compete with the Palace. But it’s also ambitious. It seeks to be, itself, a work of art worthy of taking its place in the Gardner’s famous collection......