Now this museum, which has the third largest collection of exhibits in the United States, has also become the second largest in the country in terms of its complex (after the New York Metropolitan Museum). A new wing with an area of almost 25 thousand square meters. m is intended for the exhibition of works of art since 1900, a collection of architectural details, design objects, photographs and video art; it also houses an educational center and halls for temporary exhibitions.
It overlooks Millennium Park and the Jay Pritzker Frank Gehry Pavilion located there. The Piano building is connected with this green space not only by the transparent glass of the curtain wall of the façade (individual rooms are specially equipped with huge panoramic windows), but also by a 190 m long steel bridge connecting the park and the upper floor of the Modern building.
The outlines of the new building are reminiscent of the buildings of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, for example, of the building of the New National Gallery in Berlin: the ceilings that extend beyond the perimeter of the walls, called by Renzo Piano "flying carpet", rest on thin steel supports. At the same time, the thoughtfulness of all proportions even more clearly demonstrates the immanent connection of "high" modernism with the classical tradition. Also about the past - about Gothic cathedrals - is reminiscent of the elongated space of the lobby with a transparent glass ceiling extending into the depths of the building. It ends with a glass and wood staircase suspended from steel rods, an almost direct quote from Mies van der Rohe, borrowed from his project for the Chicago Arts Club.
In the exhibition halls, lighting plays a major role, which has been the most important topic for Piano since the 1980s. The glass ceilings are closed from the outside with a lattice screen made of metal panels, and from the inside, the light is filtered by stretched cloths. Thus, a soft and pleasant lighting tone is achieved without harming the exhibits. This system also helps to save energy, which is one of the green elements of the project (the building has already received the LEED Silver Energy Certificate).
