Plans to expand the museum complex appeared 20 years ago, but then the public and Kahn's heirs managed to prevent them: in their opinion, the project of Romaldo Giurgola was emphatically subordinate to the existing building and had no aesthetic value.
Nobody has any objections to Piano's option: this architect, according to whose project the expansion of the chapel complex in Ronchamp Le Corbusier has already begun, seems to have already received a kind of carte blanche to work with outstanding architectural monuments.
However, both in France and in Texas, his projects do not claim to be the first, while possessing a restrained, almost classical nobility.
In Fort Worth, west of the 1972 building, a two-story glass and steel pavilion with a sloping roof will be erected, most of which will be located underground. Workshops, classrooms, a library and an auditorium will open alongside temporary exhibition halls.
The new structure will not disturb the harmony of lawns, trees and ponds, thought out by Kahn himself. It should be noted that when working, Piano was guided not only by the main building of the Kimbell Museum, but also by the nearby Tadao Ando Museum of Contemporary Art.
The materials for the facing of the pavilion and the "green" elements of its project have not yet been determined, but construction is planned to begin in 2010; the new building is due to open in 2012.
