subject: Artnet News Clark Art Institute Renovation And Expansion [print this page] I wont go on, since we only have a certain amount of money -- er, time, said Michael Conforti in a notable Freudian Slip while
introducing the speakers during yesterday's press briefing at the luxy Daniel restaurant in midtown Manhattan. Conforti, the director
of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., was unrolling the latest developments in his museum's
long-running $100 million renovation and expansion. The Clark, Conforti ventured, is both an "arcadian retreat" and a "greenhouse of
ideas," whose glorious pastoral setting -- 140 acres in the Berkshires -- "links Boston and New York."
The Clark's 2001 master plan has already born fruit in a $20 million, crisply minimalist Stone Hill Conservation Center, designed by
Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Tadao Ando, which opened in 2008.
Now, Ando has signed on to craft a new 44,400 square-foot Visitor, Exhibition and Conference Center (VECC) that, like the
conservation center, is also slated to include new galleries. Also under way at the Clark is a renovation of the museum's original
1955 facility, overseen by German-born architect Anabelle Selldorf, and further landscaping of its 140-acre grounds, under the
watchful eye of Boston landscape architect Gary Hildebrand.
At the press event, Hildebrand outlined his plan to engage the Northern Berkshires landscape, re-articulating the meadows
surrounding the museum buildings and reframing the Clark as a trailhead for two miles of new walking paths throughout the campus.
The centerpiece of the project is a 1.5-acre reflecting pool that turns into an enormous skating rink during the winter -- with
Andos new building sited at water's edge.
Next, Selldorf explained the challenge of contending with an "architectural temple" like the Clark's original building. The goal is
to make it better -- without anyone noticing what youve done, she said, detailing plans for a series of subtle adjustments, like a
chiropractors work. Her design calls for updated lighting and a new elevator to improve traffic flow between galleries, which are
to increase in size by 5,400 square feet, or 45 percent. Also in the plans are a redesigned library, a new courtyard reading room,
and a coffee bar and bookshop.
Lastly, the venerable Ando waxed poetic, explaining through a translator that, as with his other buildings, he desires to create
art-viewing that nourishes the soul, placing the art and building in conversation with the natural landscape so you can feel time
stop, feel the presence of the earth.
From the beginning, Michael has been harassing me to do something unique, something that can only happen at the Clark, Ando said.
Were still trying!
Despite its homely name, the VECC is slated to serve as the light-flooded entrance into the museum, with a 2,500 square-foot glass
pavilion opening onto stunning woodland vistas, and providing a new west-facing entry to the 1955 structure. Built in stone, concrete
and glass, the center also houses 10,500 square feet of galleries for special exhibitions and a restaurant and shop. The scheme has
received $30 million in financing through the Massachusetts state government.
I want people to keep walking, looking at the art, the water, the green, Ando concluded. I force myself to walk at least 10,000
steps every day, so I can live to be 100. We can all live to be 100 -- keep walking.
