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Anchorage Museum Alaska, Architect, Design, Picture, Project, News, Images
Anchorage Museum, Alaska, USA
Alaskan building by David Chipperfield Architects, UK27 May 2009
David Chipperfield Architects' Anchorage Museum Expansion to Open
David Chipperfield Architects' new 8,000 m2 Anchorage Museum Expansion will open to the public on 30 May 2009.
image : Christian Richters
The organisation of the new building is based on five linear volumes of varying length and height arranged along the western face of the existing building. This arrangement forms a new facade and entrance facing downtown Anchorage. The new building offers windows through which the activity of the museum is observed. The visitor, from within, is re-oriented to the city context and its extraordinary natural setting beyond. The glass facade of the new four-storey building is fritted with a striped mirror pattern, providing views out of and into the museum and reflecting the sky and surrounding mountainous environment.
The interior design concept exposes the concrete structure as part of the character of the internal spaces. Walls are constructed between columns to establish a series of rooms within the new building. The main public spaces - the entrance lobby, circulation atrium, cafe, and exhibition spaces - use different colours and materials to give each its own identity. Windows have been positioned in all non-exhibition spaces and some exhibition spaces.
The Anchorage Museum Expansion will also house the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, exhibiting 600 Alaska Native ethnographic artefacts from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian. The new Common created in front of the museum will provide a new public space for downtown Anchorage.
Previously:
Topping Out Ceremony for Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
David Chipperfield Architects
Images © David Chipperfield Architects
The Topping Out Ceremony for the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center will be held on Sunday 23 September 2007.
David Chipperfield Architects won an international competition for the Anchorage Museum Expansion in 2003. The project comprises three components as part of an overall master plan: the existing museum building, a new extension building and extensive landscaping to create the Museum Common.
The Anchorage Museum Expansion commenced construction in March 2007. The exposed concrete structure is currently being erected, and is due to be completed in late November 2007. The glass façade installation will commence in December 2007.
A full-size section of the glass façade was constructed and tested earlier in 2007 and the new façade is currently being fabricated in China. The mirrored vertical stripes on the exterior have been refined to enhance the surface quality of the overlapping volumes and soften the transition from opaque to windowed areas. The first elements of the skin have already being shipped to Anchorage.
2008 will see the fitting-out of the interior of the new extension. The interior design concept involves exposing the concrete structure as part of the character of the internal spaces. Walls will be constructed between columns to establish a series of rooms within the new building. The main public spaces - the entrance lobby, circulation atrium and exhibition spaces - will use different colors and materials to give each area its own identity. Windows have been positioned in all non-exhibition spaces and some exhibition spaces. The external vertical stripes will be evident internally in certain areas, adding to the internal character.
Exhibition installation of the museum’s permanent collection is due in Spring 2009, with soft opening scheduled for June 2009.
The Anchorage Museum Expansion will house the Arctic Studies Center Gallery - exhibiting 650 artifacts from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian. The Arctic Studies Center Gallery is scheduled for installation in January – April 2010, along with the science galleries in the existing museum. Anchorage’s Imaginarium – a science discovery centre for children – will merge with the Anchorage Museum.
The Anchorage Museum Expansion will aid the museum in expanding its mission to include art, history and ethnography - all with the intent of better telling the story of Alaska. More information can be found at www.anchoragemuseum.org.
Anchorage Museum Alaska images / information from David Chipperfield Architects Sep 2007
Anchorage Museum Alaska Architect : David Chipperfield Architects
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