DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
Wilmington, DE
The 80,000 SF Delaware Art Museum is a treasure, filled with an unexpectedly extraordinary collection of 12,000 works of art. Their collection includes the Pre-Raphaelites Brotherhood, – including Rossetti, the seminal Ashcan School painter John Sloan, the illustrious illustrator Howard Pyle from the turn of the 19th century, and Winslow Homer. To the north the Museum has a pivotal 9 acres sculpture garden.
As the Museum moved in a contemporary direction, our concept for the addition to the formal neo-classical museum took a broad arching swing around the vast open cistern on the site, and created a new glass entry façade – in effect a contemporary gesture created by the arrival circular entry drive, adjacent to the new parking. The dynamics of the contemporary fully respected the subdued classical of the more classical collections.
Eventually the firm of Ann Beha Architects was selected from the short list of concepts for their additions.