The main goal of the architect - and the main challenge for his task - was to reconcile the new building, called "Block Wing", with the main building of the museum, an imposing neoclassical structure of the 1930s. The latter is located in the middle of a spacious park, and any extension would break the strict symmetry of its architectural composition.
In 1999, during the architectural competition for the design of the new wing of the museum, Hall was the only one of the finalists (including Tadao Ando and Christian de Portzamparc), who placed his structure not at the northern (rear) facade of the old building, but at its end. The architect designed his version according to the principle of "complementary contrast": next to the heavy stone temple, a light glass structure appeared; next to the building, "set" on the lawn, Stephen Hall has achieved a fusion of architecture and natural surroundings.
This approach brought him victory eight years ago, and now, after the completion of the construction, there is applause from critics and the approval of the public.
The "Block Building" consists of five "lenses", as the architect himself calls them. We are talking about translucent blocks of irregular shape, partially recessed into the ground. But this is only the part of the new wing visible from the outside: in fact, almost all of it is underground.
The first and largest "lens" houses the new main lobby of the museum, administrative offices, a shop and a library. The entrance to it is decorated with a decorative pond with a sculpture by Walter De Maria, arranged in front of the northern facade of the old building. But this is not the only way to get inside the museum - due to the fact that visiting it is free and there is no need to check tickets, Hall was able to design seven more entrance doors at different points in the new wing. Therefore, it is possible at any time to interrupt your inspection of the exhibits and go outside, to the sculpture park, and then return to the halls again.
Moving from the first to the second block of the "Block Building", the visitor is faced with a choice: he can go down to the next gallery, go to the main atrium of the old museum building, or go out into the park.
From the second "lens" the actual exhibition premises of the museum begin, for the most part hidden underground (the last three glass blocks only mark the location of the light wells that illuminate the halls below them). The floor level there gradually lowers from hall to hall, but the same thing happens with the height of the embankment in which the "Block Building" is recessed, so the visitor, believing that he is deep underground, may unexpectedly find windows in the next room and an exit to the park.
The elegant forms and thoughtful plan would not have distinguished the Hall museum building from dozens of similar ones built in the USA and throughout Europe in recent years, if it were not for the architect's special attitude to light. He made him the protagonist of his project, it is his presence and special qualities that breathe life into a new building, turning it into something outstanding.
Light has always played a special role in museum premises: without strong enough lighting, it is impossible to see the exhibits, but at the same time, it can damage almost any of them. Hall chose glass as the material for the walls of his building, which seems, at first glance, risky. But this is what made both the exterior and the interior of the building a wonderful example of modern museum architecture.
The lens walls are composed of 6,000 low iron glass panels, which reduce the characteristic greenish cast. The outer layer consists of two fused sheets of such glass, treated with a sandblasted apparatus, as well as a layer - Okalux porous insulating material, which traps up to 68% of the light and thermal energy of the sun. Then there is a 1 meter wide technical space, the walls of which are made of acid-treated glass, laminated with plastic, which further reduces the light intensity. The remaining 18% are controlled by three types of blinds. As a result of precise engineering calculations, the optimal positions of these sun screens were established for all seasons, weather conditions and hours of the day, which made it possible to illuminate the halls with as much daylight as possible, safe for exhibits. Despite being underground, the Blok Wing galleries are filled with sunlight, and the visitor will immediately notice the change in lighting if a cloud floats outside or it starts raining. This close connection with the natural environment enriches the perception of works of art, preventing the emergence of "museum fatigue".
Outside, the milky white walls of the Hall Wing change color depending on the hour of the day: from pale blue in the morning to red at sunset, but they never give a glare due to their matte surface. At night, fluorescent lights are turned on inside the walls of the five blocks, which transform them into a kind of huge lanterns placed in the park.
Creating his building in harmony with nature, Stephen Hall did everything to ensure that it never lost its freshness: after all, every day the sun will illuminate it in a different way, turning it into a completely new museum.
