Date: 2007
David Chipperfield Architects

Topping Out Ceremony for Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center


Image credit: Copyright 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.


Image credit: Copyright David Chipperfield Architects

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 Architect : David Chipperfield Architects

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