David Chipperfield continues to design large public buildings in the United States: now we are talking about a new wing of the St. Louis Art Museum, the main, neoclassical building of which dates back to the early 20th century. The management of the museum decided not to follow the path of historical stylization, but to order a construction "that would reflect the spirit of modernity in the same way that an old building reflects its time."
Therefore, the architect was given relative freedom in choosing a project solution. The walls of the new building, which resemble a cross, will be made of glass and black concrete filled with rock typical of the Missouri River Valley, next to which St. Louis is.
The new building will house temporary exhibition halls with overhead lighting. There is also planned a new lobby, a cafe and a museum shop, as well as an underground garage, which will free up space on the surface of the earth, where it is planned to arrange a sculpture garden. One of the most important elements of the reconstruction will be the addition of a new main staircase in the Sculpture Hall of the old building, which will connect the main tier of the building with the premises on the ground floor below it.
Chipperfield's goal in designing the interior of the new wing was to achieve maximum visual cohesion between the old and new premises, since, in fact, one building.
Construction work should begin at the end of 2008 and end by 2011.
