SPENCER MUSEUM ADDITION
site: University of Kansas: Lawrence, Kansas
collaboration: Andy Stephens

program description:
Art Museum . Art & Architecture Library . Art History Dept.

The Spencer Museum is currently in a state of disarray. While the building has performed its function well for the past 30 years, it has outgrown its program. A new addition to the museum must be an iconic magnet for both the university and the Spencer. Rather than disrupt the landscape, our concept transcends the old museum by constructing a new architectural type on top of the existing building. While the current building is dense, closed, and stereotomic, the new addition will be light, airy and tectonic allowing for new views to be experienced from campus that currently do not exist.

By utilizing the interstitial roof space between the old and new buildings, the addition acts as both a private museum and a place for public gathering. A new atrium will fill the existing gallery space with diffused light.

The addition is wrapped entirely with an operable perforated screen, which provides shading and ventilation control. A large video display becomes a dynamic part of the building, making it inclusive to the mediation of communication from both the inside and out, giving the museum a figurative and phenomenological experience.