MFA Expansion

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MFA Wings Clipped Short

Has anyone else noticed that Phase II of the MFA expansion seems to have been silently dropped?

Under the initial plan, Phase I, which is the part that's currently under construction, was to have finished in Feb. 2007, with a new East Wing of American art galleries, the "jewel box" glass-enclosed courtyard and a new visitors/info center.

Phase II, though never given a specific timetable from what I can tell, was to have included a West Wing similar to the East Wing and more glass-enclosed courtyards to create a "crystal spine," as the museum, Foster and media all said. The overwhelming, windowless IM Pei box that currently houses the Gund Galleries was to go the way of the dodo (good riddance, IMO), and expanded teaching facilities were to be built.

Also, Phase I was to have included the renovation of the European art galleries; Phase II, of the Ancient World galleries (hopefully including the run-down Egyptian galleries).

The entire master plan was quite good, I thought: the east-west "crystal spine" and the opening up of the Fens entrance (the above-discussed State Street entrance) were to restore the perpendicular axes and the museum's symmetry. Given the confusing pastiche of different buildings that the museum is today, I liked the plan.

In Foster's words: "The Master Site Plan is a long-range plan that includes creating a glazed crystal spine running the full length of the site (east/west), another wing on the west side of the Museum as well as a Study Center.

"The crystal spine will delicately unite courtyards and galleries both old and new, improving orientation for visitors and strengthening the Museums ties to its surrounding communities through an open and transparent structure.

"Above-ground parking lots will be replaced with underground parking, leaving the Museums campus open for additional landscaping."
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/News/067/Default.aspx

Since construction got under way on the East Wing, nothing has been said about the Master Plan. The second wing (still seen on CBT's site) has been dropped from all the MFA's renderings and press releases.

Note how current renderings show only the East Wing, which makes the museum even more lopsided and unnavigable than before: check it out.

I wrote the museum a letter to see if they could give me an answer. Here it is. Note that they imply the entire project will be completed in 2010, which is when the East Wing is due for completion:

I can see you are very well-versed in our Building Project. The Building Project does encompass the new American Wing along Forsyth Way, the creation of the glass-enclosed courtyard, the development of new educational facilities and conservation labs, the renovation of galleries for Contemporary and European art, and the addition of new visitor amenities - including a new visitor center. We are concentrating on Phase I and have pulled elements of Phase II into the the current Building Project, including the renovation of the Art of the Ancient World. We have also purchased the Forsythe Institute and are beginning to study the space to determine what it could be used for, including a study center. The Building Project is expected to be completed in late 2010. We are planning to celebrate the first milestone of the project this June though with the opening of the State Street Corporation Fenway Entrance. The Museum's mission and the goal of the project is to create more space for art, so I don't think you will be disappointed when it is completed.

------------------------------

A real shame -- like Harvard, the MFA has such an incredible range of holdings and so many of them are in storage. I wish (again, like Harvard) the museum could display more and in a more coherent way, which the master plan would have achieved. Instead, we get more piecemeal, broken-vision planning. Sad -- and nobody ever seemed to have noticed that the expansion effort has broken in two.

Also bad is that the parking lot and Gund Galleries will remain. Imagine a classically beautiful structure, incorporated into the Fens, without any parking lots suburbing it up... (sigh).
 
You know, never have I been in the Pei wing of the MFA and wished they had more windows for me to look out at the Northeastern campus....In fact, the only side which is worth looking out on, does have windows, towards the Japanese garden & the fens.
 
Hey. Look who was right on the money way back in May of '07:

ablarc said:
As long as folks think it's OK for the MFA to have a parking lot (as some of us seem to), it's quite likely that after the dust settles on the present building campaign, we'll be treated, somewhere or other, to ... a parking lot!
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^^^, Itchy, was the $500 million cost announced at the time of the Foster design, was that to cover only the current construction, or don't you know?

If Harvard's rebuilt Fogg-Busch with a connect to Sackler costs $700 a sq ft to build, a 250,000 sq ft replacement would still cost under $200 million (which to my eyes, is less than the "few hundred million" cost mentioned in a Harvard interview). Perhaps at the time of the Fogg announcement next month, Harvard will also indicate its future museum plans for Barry's Corner in N. Allston.

If a N. Allston museum was primarily to be home to temporary or rotating exhibitions, perhaps Harvard might host temporary exhibitions from other museums, such as the MFA, there.
 
Itchy, I found this on MFA's site:

mfady6.jpg


You just need to click on the "building the new MFA" link to get there. Note that they have the correct completion date for Phase 1.
 
In order to protect my own peace of mind, I have conditioned myself to not expect anything called "phase II or III or IV" of almost any project ever to be completed, (thus my true wonderment at the ability for the Pru to complete so much of its master plan). If the MFA thought it could truly raise the funds for the entire proposal, they would have at the outset, rather than creating a phasing-in process. In addition, when they bought the Forsyth building I knew in my heart of hearts that, 1. this was going to be the real "phase II"; and 2. even money says that the Forsyth will never reach it's potential for the MFA, that it will be sold down the line to some other developer due to what will be described as "the spiraling costs to finish and furnish "phase I" and the long-term economic climate."
 
Tut, tut. Let's not lose sight of the achievement, here. This is a far bigger fundraising campaign than Boston has ever seen (or may ever, again).

Having said that, you're probably right, if they could have done both phases at once, they would have.

The $500 million is something like $345 million for construction, $100 million for endowment, and $60 million for on-going operations. The trouble was, everyone wants their donations to go for pretty art, not for a piece of granite or brick.

The Forsyth opportunity was seen as fortuitous, I think. Fit nicely with the delay in Phase II, while allowing the museum to consolidate operations in the Fenway (don't forget, some offices are in Copley Place, right now).

The opening of the Fenway entrance may not matter to some, but it does have a more pleasing and architecturally-significant appeal.

The West Wing will be used exclusively for dropping off / picking up of students by buses.

The whole project was pushed back - construction didn't start until later than planned, so perhaps Phase II is delayed, but not in "mothballs".

I can say, the pillowtalk is about the same as what you got from the museum's PR department.
 
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There was never a date attached to any later phases. It all has to do with money. The reason the Art of the Ancient World has moved forward is that someone has donated money, Berhakis I believe. We should be thankful that this is such an all encompassing master plan and not hodgepodge as in the past. Look at how many recent additions are being torn down as part of the master plan. The latter phases have only been sketched out.

The museum also will not build unless money is has been endowed to cover operating cost associated with any new addition.

When this project was announced it was the third largest art project in the country after, i believe, the Guggenheim and the Whitney. Where are those projects today? Unbuilt.

The last meeting I attended the architects said the plan is to put the parking underground, but they were stumped as to how to do that. It may even have to go in front or in back of the museum. The museum no longer leases garage space to the hospitals as per the neighborhood's requested/demanded.

I think the Pei wing was always planned to be enclosed long term.

How could anyone think the museum can raise the amount needed to build the all the phases at once, expecialy after having just completing a 135 million dollar campaign. Padre you and I are probably the oldest on this forum, you know how bad things were in this city. Remember when the MFA couldn't raise enough to keep the Washington portraits here!!! It took about 20 years and several directors before the MFA felt they start that campaign.

I don't understand the negativity here.
 
I'm sorry to have sounded negative, because I think phase I is a great achievement. I just think we need to be realistic when huge plans are announced and not be disappointed when subsequent phases of a project never get off the ground or are delayed indefinitely. P.S.: I'm 56 just for the record...not ready to be the "oldest" in any group yet, LOL!
 
Does the MFA read this board? Probably not. LOL, but...........

MFA unveiling a grander gateway to its treasures

Coming in June, new entrance on the Fens will greet visitors

By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | April 27, 2008


It used to be the grand entrance, 22 Ionic columns beckoning visitors into the Museum of Fine Arts. But by the 1970s, with the nearby Back Bay Fens grown muddy and overrun by reeds, the MFA decided to lock the doors on the north side of its building. Hardly anyone noticed.


Now the abandoned entrance is set for a dramatic reopening on June 20, marking a major milestone in the museum's $345 million expansion plan. The MFA has hauled in 110 blocks of granite - a quarter of the stone produced each year on Maine's Deer Isle - to expand and resurface the landing in front of the doors, which first opened in 1915. Inside the Evans Wing, the museum is installing a new visitors' center with retro '50s-style furniture.


Looking to build buzz for its expansion, the MFA has moved up the date of the opening of the Evans entrance by two years. The museum hopes to send a message to not only the commu nity, but also potential donors as part of the final push toward its unprecedented $500 million capital campaign. (The museum says it has raised $453 million so far.)


With the ribbon-cutting, the museum will change its way of circulating visitors. The MFA's main entrances are now in the West Wing, which opened in 1981, and on Huntington Avenue. This summer, the museum will close the Huntington entrance to remodel it; those doors will reopen next year. Then in 2010, when the expansion is finished, the West Wing entrance will be used only for tour and school groups. By bringing the public once more through the Fenway and Huntington doors, the MFA will be reestablishing the North-South axis created by Guy Lowell, the architect who designed the MFA's neoclassical building.


Fenway neighborhood advocates, who have hoped for a rejuvenation of the long-neglected parkland designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, view the June opening as an important step. This spring, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, with financial help from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, will have the path along the Fens redone.


In the next year, the US Army Corps of Engineers will put out to bid a project that calls for, in part, dredging the water to remove invasive weeds and restoring the river bank. The $70 million project will probably be completed in 2011 or 2012, according to Mike Keegan, who is managing the work.


"I don't look at this as a door, I look at it as a bridge to the city," said Ronald E. Logue, chief executive officer of State Street Bank, which has given the MFA $10 million for the entrance project and has, in turn, scored the naming rights to the doorway.


The MFA's overall expansion project, which will add an East Wing that includes new galleries and a glass-enclosed courtyard, is the most expensive in its history and the most significant since the opening of the Evans Wing. That project increased the museum's size by 40 percent and drew enough attention that, on a cold Wednesday night in February 1915, horse-drawn carriages and cars clogged Huntington Avenue as some 6,000 people made their way to celebrate the occasion.


The Evans doors were not opened that night, as visitors were taken through the Huntington entry, so they could form a receiving line for Maria Antoinette Evans, the philanthropist whose gift made the expansion possible.


This time, the MFA is holding a three-day celebration. On the Friday morning of June 20, with trumpet fanfare, a group of museum and city leaders will officially open the Evans doors. The next night, a private reception for major donors and bold-faced politicos - including US Representative Edward Markey and state Senate President Therese Murray - will feature entertainment by a group led by jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano. On June 22, the museum will open to the public for free, filling a tent in its West Wing parking lot with family art activities.


The MFA had planned to open the Evans doors in 2010, when it will complete its expansion project. But Malcolm Rogers, the museum's director, decided to move up the opening.


"In a very skeptical town, people will look at that entrance and say, 'Wow, it really is happening,' " said Rogers.


On a recent afternoon, project manager Charles Hall offered a tour of the soon-to-be-opened Fenway entrance. The entry resembles the old one, seen in the half-century-old postcards that museum archivist Maureen Melton has collected for an exhibition that will open in June. But Hall knows how much has changed. To make the entrance accessible to people who use wheelchairs, the museum raised the surface of the outside landing 5 inches. Hence, all the granite. The MFA also expanded the stairs and platform leading to the doors. The old landing stretched 7 feet from the building; the new one reaches 14 feet. The stairway has also been widened.


"It's a combination of needing a bigger landing and taking the stairs further out into the street, so you're beckoning people in," Hall said.


To highlight the Fenway doors, permanent lights will shoot up to illuminate the columns. A pair of new MFA fountains will shoot water 6 feet in the air. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is hoping the work will inspire other improvements, ranging from crosswalks to pedestrian bridge repairs within the park.


"It really is exciting, but jeez, it's about time," said Fredericka Veikley, a member of the Fenway Civic Association's board. "I always felt that the setting was marginalized by corralling everybody through the West Wing. I did not like being greeted by a parking lot. The real elegant entries are through the doors of the Fenway."
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http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_ar...unveiling_a_grander_gateway_to_its_treasures/
 
Let's give Foster and the MFA a chance

They are making major major changes -- even the way that the art is being grouped is going to be different

After the current dust settles and people see how the clean-up, re-landscaped Fenway (er State Street) entrance is integrated into the new Sharf Visitor Center then there will be a completely re-done Huntington (er L'ave Lafayette er L'ave des Artes) entrance re-do

Then comes the glass box and the New Art of the Americas -- all the above ought to keep up attending openings for the next few years -- and a major closing as well (no more silly Pei entrance except for school groups)

Looking forward to June 20-22

Westy


Westy
 
Boston.com - June 20, 2008
Open-door policy

By Meredith Goldstein, Globe Staff | June 20, 2008

For 30 years, the backdoor of the Museum of Fine Arts - the one that faces the Back Bay Fens - has been locked. Today, rather than having patrons go through the front or side door to get into the building, the MFA invites you to break on through from the other side. (Sorry. We had to.) The museum plans to celebrate the grand reopening of the backdoor with a 10 a.m. party that includes a ribbon cutting and a speech from Mayor Thomas M. Menino. The celebration continues Sunday with a free community day, when you can check out the MFA from all sides from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave. 617-369-3306.
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(Sorry. We had to.)
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No. No you did not.
 
Am I the only one on whom the thrust of opening the doors along the Fens is lost? Is there so much foot traffic streaming toward the museum from that direction that opening the doors is a necessity?
 
Well, I don't understand the reason behind it, aquaman, but it is going to be a necessity, as the West Wing entrance will be closed to all but school groups.

The Huntington St entrance will be closed for renovations, but re-open once the new East Wing is completed, is my understanding. Most people will enter through there, I assume, at least those arriving my public transportation.

I believe plans are to add parking on the West Wing side, no? And, make Museum Road two-way?

It is a beauty, though, especially with the "heads". Makes it look like a true museum entrance, with the doric columns. (W/E!)
 
I guess it makes sense from a design aspect. Since we've never had the chance, maybe walking through the museum and then exiting through the north side, entering into the Fens, will be an experience unto itself. Maybe it will confuse people, who knows.

I hope it makes people more aware of the existance of the Fens. They are my favorite park in all of Boston and in dire need of some TLC. Perhaps the MFA can install some art in the Fens and have it be an extension of the museum; a thrust of space from the indside galleries to the outside sculpture park.
 
This actually makes a lot of sense. I don't live far from from the MFA and often traverse through the Fens to go to the Regal Landmark theaters. Last week, I noticed that the sidewalk on the Fens side of Park drive was being redone, and only that sidewalk. I didn't understand why they hadn't just done the entire sidewalk, or why the even re-paved it at all. Nevertheless, it looks great now, so perhaps the prospect of opening up the back door to the MFA and people walking across the street to the park may look appealing, now that there's a brand new paved sidewalk for them to walk on.
 
They will be doing the entire walkway. They started with that section to tie in with the MFA's re-opening.

Now if they could only have trimed the overgrowth and opened up the view into the Fens.
 
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Isn't the West Wing still needed for people who are going to events at Remis Auditorium, or to the restaurant, without buying museum admission?
 
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